>  MAR  2  1909  * 


BV  2363  .C8  1908 
Crawford,  William  Henry, 

1855- 
The  church  and  the  slum 


P3 
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The  Church  and  the 

Slum 


A  STUDY  OF  ENGLISH  WESLEYAN 
MISSION  HALLS 


rn, 


fn. 


*     MAR   2  1909 


%/CAL  %l$0 


cV 


By 

WILLIAM  HENRY  CRAWFORD 

President  Allegheny  College 


New  York:    EATON     &    MAINS 
Cincinnati :    JENNINGS   &  GRAHAM 


Copyright,  1908,  by 
EATON  &  MAINS. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Preface 11 

Introduction 13 


CHAPTER  I 
Manchester  and  Salford  Mission 17 

CHAPTER  II 
Central  Hall,  Liverpool 47 

CHAPTER  III 
Central  Hall,  Edinburgh  . 67 

CHAPTER  IV 
Leeds,  Bradford,  Sheffield,  and  Birmingham 89 

CHAPTER  V 
London  Halls 117 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Page 

Central  Hall,  Manchester Frontispiece 

Interior  of  Free  Trade  Hall 16 

Rev.  S.  F.  Collier 23 

Rev.  Hugh  Price  Hughes 29 

Rev.  J.  H.  Jowett 34 

Central  Hall  Prize  Band 39 

Central  Mission  Hall,  Liverpool 46 

Rev.  Joseph  Jackson 51 

Sister  Kate  Chandler 55 

Rev.  Charles  Garrett 60 

Saint  George's  Mission  Hall,  Liverpool 64 

Interior  of  Central  Hall,  Edinburgh 68 

Rev.  George  Jackson 71 

Rev.  F.  H.  Benson   81 

Central  Mission  Hall,  Birmingham 88 

Rev.  C.  W.  Andrews 91 

Dr.  H.  J.  Pope 97 

Eastbrook  Hall,  Bradford 104 

Rev.  H.  M.  Nield 108 

Leysian  Mission  Hall,  London 116 

Rev.  J.  Ash  Parsons 120 

Rev.  Peter  Thompson 124 

Rev.  J.  Gregory  Mantle 128 

Rev.  J.  E.  Rattenbury 132 

Central  Hall,  South  London  Mission 136 

Rev.  Henry  T.  Meakin 140 

Rev.  J.  Gregory  Mantle  and  Some  of  his  Poor  Children  .  .  .  143 


On  the  one  hand  the  city  stands  for  all  that  is  evil:  a  city 
that  is  full  of  devils,  foul  and  corrupting  ;  and  on  the  other 
hand  the  city  stands  for  all  that  is  noble,  full  of  the  glory  of  God 
and  shining  with  a  clear  and  brilliant  light.  But  if  we  think  a 
little  more  carefully  we  shall  see  that  the  city  has  in  all  parts 
of  the  world  represented  both  these  aspects.  It  has  been  the 
worst  and  it  has  been  the  best.  Every  city  has  been  a  Baby- 
lon and  every  city  has  been  a  New  Jerusalem,  and  it  has  always 
been  a  question  whether  the  Babylon  would  extirpate  the  New 
Jerusalem,  or  the  New  Jerusalem  would  extirpate  the  Baby- 
lon. It  has  been  so  in  the  past  and  it  is  so  in  the  present. 
The  greatest  corruption,  the  greatest  vice,  the  greatest  crime 
are  to  be  found  in  a  great  city.  The  greatest  philanthropy,  the 
greatest  purity,  the  most  aggressive  noble  courage  are  to  be 
found  in  the  great  city.  San  Francisco,  Saint  Louis,  Chicago, 
Cincinnati,  Philadelphia,  New  York,  Boston,  and  Brooklyn  are 
full  of  devils,  and  also  full  of  the  glory  of  God. — Lyman  Abbott. 


PREFACE 

The  chapters  comprising  this  little  volume, 
though  not  in  exactly  the  same  form,  were 
originally  published  last  winter  in  Zion's 
Herald.  Some  who  read  these  letters  ex- 
pressed a  wish  that  they  might  be  put  in 
more  permanent  shape  and  given  a  wider 
reading.    Hence  this  book. 

It  need  hardly  be  said  that  what  is  here 
presented  is  not  in  any  sense  an  exhaustive 
study  of  English  Wesleyan  mission  halls.  A 
much  larger  volume  would  be  required  for 
that.  The  halls  visited,  however,  are  thor- 
oughly representative,  and  the  conditions 
under  which  the  work  is  being  done  are 
sufficiently  diverse  to  give  a  fairly  compre- 
hensive idea  of  the  Wesleyan  Forward  Move- 
ment work  as  a  whole.  The  writing,  as  will 
be  seen,  was  all  done  on  the  spot  except  part 
of  the  last  letter,  which  was  finished  on  board 
the  Oceanic  during  the  return  voyage. 

W.  H.  C. 
Meadville,  Pa.,  July  15,  1908. 


11 


INTRODUCTION 

BY  REV.  S.  PARKES  CADMAN,  D.D. 

I  have  long  known  the  work  of  the  British 
Wesleyan  Church  in  city  centers,  and  I  have 
watched  its  development  from  the  days  of 
James  Ernest  Clapham,  Dr.  Ebenezer  Jen- 
kins, and  Hugh  Price  Hughes  until  the 
present  moment.  No  man  can  afford  to  neg- 
lect the  study  of  this  operation  if  he  seeks  to 
serve  the  cause  of  the  redemption  of  our 
cities.  It  is  replete  with  valuable  experiences, 
consecrated  personalities,  fine  energies,  and 
grateful  results. 

The  Manchester  Mission,  conducted  by  my 
friend,  the  Rev.  Samuel  F.  Collier,  is  the  best 
type  of  city  mission  work  in  the  world  to-day. 
It  has  honorable  rivals  in  London,  Leeds, 
Edinburgh,  Bradford,  Liverpool,  Birming- 
ham, Belfast,  and  elsewhere. 

President  Crawford  has  rendered  American 
Methodism,  and  indeed  all  Christian  churches, 
a  signal  service  by  chronicling  here  the  re- 
sults of  his  trained  observation.  I  trust  that 
the  book  will  be  widely  read  and  duly  pon- 
dered.    It  is  the  authority  for  the  United 

13 


14  INTRODUCTION 

States  on  these  large  practical  experiments 
that  have  been  made  by  the  Mother  Church 
of  Methodism.  Into  them  she  has  poured 
without  stint  her  time  and  means  and  minis- 
terial efficiency,  and  their  general  course  and 
results  are  here  placed  before  the  reader. 


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CHAPTER  I 
Manchester  and  Salford  Mission 

I  perhaps  ought  to  say,  first  of  all,  that 
my  interest  in  Wesleyan  mission  halls  began 
in  1891,  when  I  heard  Hugh  Price  Hughes  in 
Saint  James's  Hall,  West  London.  One  could 
hardly  hear  Hughes  without  being  won  to  his 
cause.  When  I  was  here  five  years  ago  there 
was  great  rejoicing  among  Wesley ans  over  the 
glorious  success  of  the  "Million  Guinea  Fund" 
movement  and  the  purchase  of  the  Royal 
Aquarium  in  London,  on  whose  site,  facing 
Westminster  Abbey,  Wesleyan  Methodism  is 
building  a  great  hall  and  Methodist  head- 
quarters. I  had  the  privilege  of  attending  a 
monster  mass  meeting  in  the  Aquarium  when 
ten  thousand  sons  and  daughters  of  John 
Wesley  sang  and  shouted  their  thanksgiving. 
Mr.  R.  W.  Perks  was  in  the  chair;  there  were 
fourteen  speakers,  and  nearly  all  of  them  had 
something  to  say  of  a  new  era  for  Methodism 
and  of  the  Forward  Movement,  of  which  the 
mission  hall  is  one  of  the  concrete  expressions. 
This  Aquarium  meeting  only  increased  my 
interest  in  the  mission  halls. 

17 


18  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

CENTRAL  HALL,  MANCHESTER 

Since  the  last  session  of  the  Wesleyan  Con- 
ference the  impression  seems  to  have  become 
current  in  certain  quarters  among  us  that  the 
mission  hall  movement  is  on  the  decline.  Be- 
cause of  this  I  determined  to  take  part  of  my 
vacation  to  look  more  carefully  into  the  work 
of  these  halls  and  to  inquire  from  men  on  the 
ground  just  how  much  was  being  accom- 
plished. I  came  to  Manchester  first  because 
nowhere  has  the  mission  hall  been  tested  as  it 
has  here.  The  Central  Hall  of  this  city  is  the 
oldest  of  all  the  halls,  and  its  superintendent, 
Rev.  S.  F.  Collier,  has  been  in  charge  ever 
since  its  opening  in  1896.  For  four  days  now 
I  have  been  looking  through  what  Dr.  F.  B. 
Meyer  has  described  as  "this  labyrinth  of 
halls,  chapels,  lodging  houses,  and  other  in- 
stitutions." The  impression  made  upon  me 
has  been  such  that  I  can  easily  believe  Dr. 
Maclaren  is  right  in  saying:  "There  is  no 
better  bit  of  work  for  Christ  and  man  being 
done  in  England  to-day."  My  vacation  plans 
are  all  broken  into.  I  am  so  amazed  at  what 
I  have  seen  and  heard  that  I  shall  devote 
practically  my  whole  time  here  to  the  mission 
halls.  The  work  has  grown  far  beyond  my 
expectations. 


MANCHESTER  AND  SALEORD  MISSION     19 
THE  APPROACHING  ANNIVERSARY 

I  am  particularly  fortunate  in  visiting  Man- 
chester at  just  this  time.  Central  Hall  is 
about  to  celebrate  what  its  friends  call  its 
"coming  of  age."  Big  plans  are  on  for  this 
twenty-first  anniversary,  which  is  to  be  held 
in  Free  Trade  Hall  on  Tuesday,  November  19. 
It  will  be  a  great  occasion,  and  the  influence 
of  it  will  be  felt  by  every  mission  hall  in  Eng- 
land. This  morning  I  saw  the  advance  proof- 
sheets  of  an  illustrated  "Souvenir  of  the 
Progress  and  Present  Work  of  the  Man- 
chester and  Salford  Mission,"  now  in  the 
hands  of  the  printer.  It  will  be  out  in  a  few 
days.  This  souvenir  sets  forth  in  outline 
what  has  been  done  in  these  twenty-one  years. 
In  it  are  a  few  congratulatory  letters  from 
men  who  know  at  first  hand  what  has  actually 
been  accomplished. 

CONGRATULATORY  LETTERS 

One  is  from  the  venerable  Dr.  Alexander 
Maclaren.  I  had  the  pleasure  of  shaking 
hands  with  him  yesterday.  What  a  mighty 
preacher  he  has  been!  God  bless  him!  He 
is  honored  and  loved  in  America  as  well  as 
here.  Last  evening  I  heard  a  Congregational 
minister  say:  "Twenty-five  years  ago,  when 


20  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

I  was  a  student  here  in  the  University,  Mac 
was  in  his  glory.  My,  but  he  did  preach! 
We've  none  like  him  now."  Dr.  Maclaren's 
congratulatory  message  to  Superintendent 
Collier  I  give  in  full: 

"I  always  esteem  it  an  honor  and  a  privilege 
to  have  the  opportunity  of  bearing  my  testi- 
mony to  the  worth  of  the  work  of  the  Central 
Hall  Mission.  I  was  at  its  cradle,  and  have  re- 
joiced in  its  growth  to  maturity.  I  heartily 
congratulate  you  and  all  your  workers  on  its 
coming  of  age,  and  hopefully  anticipate  greater 
progresses  in  the  future.  You  have  laid  the 
whole  city  under  obligations,  and  you  have 
given  all  the  churches  an  object  lesson  of  the 
greatest  value.  You  have  always  kept  the 
evangelistic  side  of  your  work  well  in  the  fore- 
ground, and  yet  have  set  us  all  an  example  of 
effective  social  work.  I  would  that  all  institu- 
tional churches  would  learn  from  the  Central 
Hall  Mission  the  proportion  which  the  two 
parts  of  their  operations  should  bear  to  each 
other.  I  wish  for  you  a  prosperous  year,  and 
confidently  look  forward  to  much  growth  and 
success  in  coming  days." 

The  following  is  from  Dr.  J.  S.  Simon, 
president  of  the  Conference: 


MANCHESTER  AND  SALFORD  MISSION     21 

"I  congratulate  you  on  the  'coming-of-age' 
of  the  mission.  Your  work,  and  the  work  of 
those  associated  with  you,  is  above  all  human 
praise,  but  it  carries  with  it  always  the  thanks- 
giving of  the  myriads  who  have  been  blessed 
by  it.  I  esteem  it  a  high  honor  to  be  allowed 
to  help,  in  some  small  measure,  the  Manches- 
ter and  Salford  Mission." 

Dr.  J.  H.  Jowett,  of  Birmingham,  who  is, 
perhaps,  the  most  thoroughly  representative 
preacher  in  England  to-day,  writes: 

"What  can  one  say  about  your  work  except 
what  every  man  would  be  glad  and  ready  to 
say?  I  know  nothing  like  it  in  England. 
What  has  impressed  me  most  about  it  is  this : 
the  free  play  of  the  Spirit  of  God  is  not  hin- 
dered in  the  amazing  multiplicity  of  your 
works.  I  never  feel  smothered  among  them. 
One  is  always  sensible  of  the  wind  that  blow- 
eth  where  it  listeth,  and  the  primary  aim  is 
not  lost  in  the  means.  Everything  is  made  to 
tend  toward  the  redemption  of  man  and  the 
building  up  of  the  saints  of  God.  Your  mis- 
sion offers  a  fine  proof  to  the  world  that 
pentecostal  power  can  be  employed  in  the 
most  modern  adaptation  of  the  Christian 
ministry.' ' 


22  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

WORK  OF  THE  MISSION  PRAISED 

These  letters  are  in  perfect  harmony  with 
what  I  have  heard  on  all  sides.  They  are 
simply  generous  recognition  of  the  heroic  and 
successful  Christlike  work  which  is  being  done 
by  devoted  men  and  women  whose  hearts  are 
aflame  with  the  "white  fire"  of  a  noble  pur- 
pose. Churchmen  as  well  as  Nonconformists 
acknowledge  the  ascendency  of  the  Wesleyans 
in  this  work,  and  they  particularly  praise 
Superintendent  Collier  and  his  noble  band  of 
colaborers.  I  called  on  the  city  editor  of  the 
Manchester  Guardian  the  other  evening,  and 
among  other  questions  I  asked  him  who  were 
the  two  or  three  most  influential  ministers  in 
the  city.  "After  Dr.  Maclaren,"  said  he,  "and 
he  has  practically  retired  now,  I  should  say 
Dean  Welldon,  of  the  cathedral,  and  S.  F. 
Collier,  of  Central  Hall."  I  quoted  this  re- 
mark later  to  the  secretary  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  and  he  said  he 
thought  the  city  editor  was  quite  right. 
Practically  the  same  thing  was  said  to  me  by 
Dr.  J.  Hope  Moulton,  of  Didsbury  College, 
the  greatest  authority  on  the  Greek  New 
Testament  in  England.  After  what  I  have 
actually  seen  with  my  own  eyes  of  the  "soul- 
and-body-saving  work"  of  this  mission  I  find 


REV.   S.  F.  COLLIER 


MANCHESTER  AND  SALFORD  MISSION      25 

it  quite  easy  to  believe  all  that  these  men  have 
said.  I  know  of  no  better  place  to  study  the 
evidences  of  Christianity  than  right  here. 

A  FEW  FIGURES 

Let  me  give  a  few  notable  figures:  There 
are  in  the  mission  15  centers  of  work;  22 
services  are  held  every  Sunday;  4,338  scholars 
are  in  the  Sunday  schools;  3,242  are  in  the 
Sunday  afternoon  meetings,  and  in  the  adult 
Bible  classes  and  brotherhoods.  Every  week 
there  are  33  prayer  meetings,  9  Bible  classes, 
49  open-air  services,  and  21  lodging-house 
services.  Over  41,000  persons,  destitute  or 
in  special  difficulty,  were  interviewed,  ad- 
vised, and  helped  this  last  year  in  connection 
with  the  social  work,  and  27,986  destitute  men 
were  fed  on  Sundays.  Four  Homes  and 
Refuges,  with  labor  yards  and  workrooms, 
are  maintained,  and  220  cripples  have  had 
their  lives  brightened  by  the  Cripples'  Guild 
and  the  industrial  classes.  The  field  for  these 
activities  is  Manchester  and  Salford,  with  a 
population  of  1,000,000. 

THE  CRIPPLES'  GUILD 

My  tour  of  inspection  began  on  Friday 
afternoon,  when  I  was  shown  through  the 
Central  Hall  building.     This  building  is  a 


26  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

large  and  imposing  structure  on  Oldham 
Street  just  off  Market,  and  not  far  from  the 
Lever  Street  Chapel,  where  Mr.  Collier  began 
his  experiment.  Central  Hall  is  headquarters 
for  a  wonderful  band  of  Christian  workers. 
The  offices  of  the  superintendent  and  his 
chief  of  staff  are  here;  here  is  the  large  audi- 
torium and  the  rooms  for  various  classes, 
clubs,  and  guilds;  and  here,  too,  is  the 
Registry  and  Labor  Bureau  in  the  famous 
room  "No.  8."  Last  year  6,435  persons  were 
interviewed  in  this  room.  Positions  are  se- 
cured for  nearly  600  every  year.  As  a  result 
of  the  work  of  all  the  labor  bureaus  of  the 
mission,  work  was  found  last  year  for  over 
2,600  persons — 318  of  them  got  permanent 
positions.  In  the  evening  I  went  back  again 
to  see  the  Cripples'  Parlor  and  the  Men's 
Club.  Both  meet  every  Friday  night.  The 
Cripples'  Parlor  was  a  sight  to  be  remem- 
bered: a  bright,  well-lighted  room  and  some 
sixty  crippled  children — all  sorts  of  cripples 
they  were — forgetting  for  a  while  their  de- 
formities and  aches  and  pains,  and  having  a 
lovely  time  of  it.  There  were  games,  songs, 
and  much  good  cheer.  Best  of  all  were  the 
kindly  faces  of  the  "workers,"  who  gave  di- 
rection to  the  evening's  joy.    There  are  some 


MANCHESTER  AND  SALFORD  MISSION      27 

two  hundred  children  in  the  Cripples'  Guild, 
and  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  are  usually  at 
the  "parlor  meetings.' '  One  of  the  nurses 
gives  her  whole  time  to  these  children,  and 
visits  those  who  are  not  able  to  come  to  the 
club  meetings.  After  chatting  for  a  time 
with  some  of  the  children  and  with  a  worker 
here  and  there  in  the  room,  I  was  invited  by 
"Sister  Marion"  to  go  downstairs  to  the  Men's 
Club. 

THE  MEN'S  CLUB 

Here  were  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  men 
from  the  street.  Such  a  lot!  I  looked  over 
the  company  to  see  how  many  had  on  white 
linen  collars.  There  were  just  two,  and  theirs 
were  both  black.  It  was  a  company  of  tramps. 
But  here  they  come  every  Friday  night  to  this 
Men's  Club — not  the  same  ones;  the  personnel 
of  the  company  changes  constantly.  The 
room  is  open  from  five  to  ten  o'clock.  From 
five  to  eight  they  play  games — chess,  domi- 
noes, etc. — read  the  papers  and  magazines,  of 
which  there  is  abundant  supply,  and  write 
letters.  The  letter-writing  interested  me  most. 
Writing  material  is  furnished  by  the  mission 
workers,  and  they  also  stamp  the  letters  for 
the  men.  Each  man  is  allowed  to  write  one 
letter,  paper,  envelope,  and  stamp  free.   From 


28  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

fifty  to  one  hundred  letters  are  written  in  an 
evening.  Many  of  them  are  letters  applying 
for  work;  some  are  letters  home.  Often  they 
talk  to  Sister  Marion  about  them.  When  I 
got  to  the  room  the  letter-writing  was  nearly 
done,  and  the  letters  were  being  brought  up. 
Some  of  them  were  beautifully  addressed. 
There  was  no  reason  why  they  should  not  be. 
Last  winter  they  had  in  the  club  a  Manchester 
solicitor,  a  Birmingham  dentist,  and  a  cap- 
and-gown  man  of  Cambridge  -  all  in  the  club 
at  one  time,  and  all  chopping  wood  together 
out  at  the  Men's  Home ;  all  brought  in  through 
drink,  but  "trying  to  work  their  way  back." 
I  saw  an  English  clergyman  there,  a  man  who 
had  gone  wrong.  He  is  trying  to  pull  himself 
together.  Every  man  who  comes  into  the  club 
meeting  must  register.  Thus  the  workers 
know  whether  a  man  comes  more  than  once. 
Over  three  thousand  are  on  the  books  for  the 
past  twelve  months.  Placards  are  here  and 
there  announcing  that  pledges  may  be  taken. 
One  reads:  "Wanted!  Workingmen  to  strike 
against  drink  and  gambling."  The  second 
part  of  the  evening's  program  consisted  of 
gospel  songs,  prayer,  a  short  address  by  "the 
gentleman  from  America,"  and  a  musical  fea- 
ture, consisting  of  voice,  violin,  and  piano. 


REV.  HUGH  PRICE  HUGHES 


MANCHESTER  AND  SALFORD  MISSION      31 

Sister  Marion,  who  has  charge  of  this  depart- 
ment, is  a  sanctified  genius,  I  am  sure  of  it. 
Her  influence  upon  the  men  is  such  that  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at  that  some  of  them 
think  her  an  angel  in  human  form. 

THE  MEN'S  HOME 

Saturday  morning  I  was  at  Central  Hall  at 
nine  o'clock  to  be  taken  to  some  of  the  Homes 
where  the  social  side  of  the  work  is  at  its  best. 
The  Men's  Home,  an  immense  building  cover- 
ing half  a  square,  has  accommodations  for  353 
men — 212  boarders  and  141  casuals.  The 
casuals  are  the  men  who  are  only  in  for  a 
short  time,  often  a  single  night.  Boarders  pay 
sixpence  per  night,  or  three  shillings  a  week, 
for  room  and  bed.  Casuals  give  three  and  a 
half  hours'  work  for  bed  and  three  meals. 
The  work  is  done  in  the  woodyard,  where  from 
a  hundred  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  men  may  be 
seen  every  afternoon,  or  in  the  tinyard,  where 
scraps  of  iron  and  tin  cans  are  brought  in, 
sorted,  and  prepared  for  market.  The  men 
are  given  work  in  the  afternoon  rather  than 
in  the  morning,  so  they  may  have  the  morning 
to  look  for  permanent  positions.  More  than  a 
hundred  men  have  been  sent  out  in  one  day 
to  work  at  which  they  have  been  able  to  earn 


32  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

their  own  living.  A  gentleman,  not  of  the 
mission,  said  to  me:  "One  of  the  best  things 
about  Collier's  mission  is  the  work  test.  Collier 
stands  in  with  the  employers  because  he 
proves  his  men  before  he  recommends  them. 
He  stands  in  with  the  men  because  he  helps 
them  to  positions.  Collier  believes  in  work. 
He  works  himself,  works  hard,  and  he  be- 
lieves everybody  else  ought  to  work.  After 
he  has  proved  the  men  in  the  woodyard  or 
the  tinyard  he  knows  what  they  can  do,  and 
the  employers  know  that  he  knows."  Twenty- 
one  thousand  have  been  in  this  Home  since 
the  first  of  last  January.  The  men  average 
three  nights  each.  Many  remain  only  a  single 
night.  Even  that  one  night  means  much  to 
some.  Others  stay  for  weeks.  A  man  whose 
face  had  attracted  me  in  the  club  the  night 
before,  I  found  in  the  Home  spreading  bread 
for  the  casuals'  dinner.  He  was  formerly  a 
piano-tuner.  Drink  and  some  other  things 
did  it.    He  is  trying  to  work  back. 

Dean  Welldon,  who  is  six  feet  three  and  of 
immense  frame,  climbing  the  three  flights  of 
stairs  to  the  top  of  the  building  not  long  ago, 
said,  as  he  puffed  for  breath,  "My,  but  you 
need  a  lift  [elevator]  here,  Collier."  "That's 
what  the  men  come  for,"  was  the  quick  reply. 


REV.   J.   H.  JOWETT 


MANCHESTER  AND  SALFOKD  MISSION      35 

And  they  get  the  lift  they  come  for.  For 
many  it  is  the  lift  that  means  beginning  life 
over  again. 

The  Women's  Home  is  hardly  less  interest- 
ing than  the  Men's.  A  fine  large  building  four 
stories  high,  with  a  well-lighted  and  attractive- 
looking  restaurant,  is  found  open  twenty-four 
hours  of  every  day.  All  sorts  of  cases  come  in 
here.  Day  or  night  the  doors  are  always  open. 
Policemen  and  cabmen,  so  the  sister  in  charge 
told  me,  often  bring  in  outcasts  in  the  early 
hours  of  the  morning  so  drunk  they  can  hardly 
walk.  The  tablet  in  the  dining  hall  tells  the 
whole  story:  "This  House  of  Shelter  was  built 
by  James  Scarlett,  of  Bowdon,  to  the  glory 
of  God  and  as  a  memorial  of  his  beloved  wife, 
Elizabeth  Catherine  Scarlett,  whose  tender 
heart  was  full  of  compassion  for  the  homeless 
and  friendless." 

THE  SUNDAY  PROGRAM 

Sunday  is  the  great  harvest  day.  I  missed 
the  morning  services;  had  the  approval  of 
"one  of  the  staff"  for  it,  too.  I  simply  could 
not  resist  the  temptation  to  hear  Jowett,  of 
Birmingham,  who  was  to  preach  in  Dr.  Mac- 
laren's  church.  Such  a  sermon!  I  did  not 
believe   there  was  a  man  in  England  who 


36  THE  CHUECH  AND  THE  SLUM 

could  preach  as  Jowett  does.  No  wonder  the 
people  crowd  to  hear  him.  He  is  certainly  a 
man  with  a  message.  My  afternoon  and 
evening  were  full.  At  three  it  was  a  men's 
meeting  in  Central  Hall — much  the  same  sort 
of  a  crowd  I  had  seen  at  the  club  on  Friday 
evening,  only  more  than  twice  as  many  men. 
I  would  not  have  believed  that  such  a  looking 
set  could  be  brought  together  in  one  room 
anywhere  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Faces 
brutal,  scarred,  blear-eyed,  hopeless,  but  wist- 
ful, many  of  them!  There  they  were — the 
sort  that  hell  is  made  of.  No  besotted  con- 
dition described  by  Dante  could  be  worse. 
"What  a  parody  on  our  civilization!"  "No," 
said  one  of  the  workers,  "what  an  opportunity 
for  Christ!"  The  men  got,  free  of  charge,  a 
bun  and  a  cup  of  tea  for  coming.  After  the 
tea  there  followed  a  gospel  service.  All 
stayed.  There  was  not  a  Sunday  suit  in  the 
room.  "It  seems  that  even  God  goes  back 
on  a  man  when  he  ain't  got  a  Sunday  suit." 
This  bitter  remark  is  said  to  have  been  made 
by  a  poorly  clad  fellow  who  was  turned  away 
from  a  London  church  by  the  policeman  at 
the  door.  The  door  of  Central  Hall  is  wide 
open  to  the  man  without  a  Sunday  suit.  The 
most  remarkable  thing  to  me  was  the  way  the 


MANCHESTER  AND  SALFORD  MISSION      37 

men  sang  and  listened  to  the  sermon.  The 
sermon  was  about  the  man  out  of  whom  the 
devils  were  cast,  and  the  preacher  showed  in 
a  striking  way  what  the  crowd  did  for  the  man, 
what  the  devil  did,  and  what  Christ  did.  After 
the  service  some  signed  the  pledge,  and  sev- 
eral remained  as  inquirers.  I  said  to  Mr.  Ful- 
ler, one  of  the  staff,  "How  much  do  you  get 
out  of  this?"  He  said,  "About  fifteen  per 
cent/'  It  seemed  to  me  wonderfully  big  re- 
turns out  of  such  material  as  that. 

WITH  THE  BAND  TO  FREE  TRADE  HALL 

At  five  I  was  over  in  Salford  to  see  a  new 
institutional  church  just  being  opened  by  the 
Congregationalists.  Sylvester  Home  was 
preaching.  At  six  I  was  out  with  one  of  the 
bands  and  helping  to  place  ten  thousand  in- 
vitations to  the  evening  meeting  in  Free 
Trade  Hall,  the  great  hall  made  famous  by 
Cobden  and  Bright.  For  full  three  quarters 
of  an  hour  the  band  threaded  the  streets 
within  a  radius  of  half  a  mile  of  the  hall.  One 
of  the  greatest  fires  seen  in  Manchester  for 
years  was  raging  only  a  few  squares  away. 
Not  much  of  a  crowd  to-night,  I  thought.  To 
my  utter  surprise,  when  we  got  to  the  hall 
nearly  every  seat  was  taken. 


38  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

THE  EVENING  SERVICE 

A  chorus  of  fifty  voices,  with  the  assistance 
of  the  great  organ  and  an  orchestra  of  eighteen 
pieces,  led  the  singing,  which  was  hearty  and 
worshipful.  An  exceptionally  fine  quartet, 
the  Minnesingers,  sang  two  selections  of  the 
kind  to  win  men  to  a  better  life.  One  of  them 
was  Stebbins's  "Launch  Away."  The  prayer 
offered  by  the  preacher  was  the  prayer  of  a 
man  who  had  been  living  in  Manchester  all 
the  week  and  knew  the  city's  needs.  The 
announcements  gave  one  some  idea  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  work  carried  on.  The  one 
of  greatest  interest  to  me  was  that  next  Sun- 
day, October  27,  would  be  the  twenty-first 
anniversary  of  the  opening  of  Central  Hall, 
"the  first  hall  of  the  Methodist  Church  or  of 
any  church."  "When  I  came  to  Manchester 
a  young  chap  of  thirty,"  said  Mr.  Collier,  "the 
most  hopeful  man  I  found  was  a  woman.  She 
thought  we  might  get  five  hundred  people. 
My  first  sermon  here  I  preached  to  forty-two 
people.  To-day  my  colleagues  and  I  are 
preaching  to  sixteen  thousand.  Every  week 
our  visitors  are  reaching  forty-four  thousand 
people  in  this  city.  But  our  work  has  only 
fairly  begun.  We  expect  to  see  this  city  won 
over  to  Christ.    There's  a  lot  to  do  yet,  and 


MANCHESTEK  AND  SALFOED  MISSION      41 

we're  going  to  need  all  our  friends  to  help  us. 
So  get  ready  for  the  anniversary."  Then  fol- 
lowed the  collection.  Thirty  of  the  men  pass- 
ing the  boxes  were  reclaimed  drunkards !  The 
mission  uses  its  own  product.  There  are  more 
than  twenty-five  hundred  such  in  the  mission. 
After  the  collection  came  the  sermon,  which 
was  clear,  forcible,  earnest,  and  inspiring,  at 
some  points  thrilling.  It  was  Children's  Day, 
or  Decision  Day,  as  we  call  it.  Earnest  appeal 
was  made  for  the  children,  particularly  for 
"the  children  in  the  hospitals,"  "the  crippled 
children,"  "the  children  half  damned  in  their 
birth  and  training."  Here  are  a  few  of  the 
short,  sharp  sentences:  "The  hope  of  humanity 
rests  with  the  children."  "A  neglected  child 
is  a  scandal  to  the  nation."  "We've  got  to  do 
more  for  the  children — stand  by  men  for  Par- 
liament who  will  do  more  for  them."  "How 
can  men  be  devils  enough  to  defile  boys  and 
girls?"  "Do  you  know  the  place  where  your 
lad  works?"  "The  men  who  lead  a  boy  to 
drink  deserve  a  'cat-o'-nine-tails,'  and  I'd  like 
to  be  one  to  give  it  to  them."  "Don't  let  the 
leprosy  of  your  sin  pollute  young  life." 
"Every  boy  who  swears  heard  his  first  oath 
from  somebody.  Was  it  you?"  "Where  you 
work  is  the  atmosphere  pure,  or  does  the  foul 


42  THE  CHUECH  AND  THE  SLUM 

jest  come  out?"  There  was  nothing  but  the 
closest  attention  on  the  part  of  the  audience 
during  the  entire  sermon,  and  I  did  not  won- 
der at  it.  In  the  after-service  Mr.  Collier  said 
to  me,  "That  fire  robbed  me  of  my  raw  ma- 
terial to-night."  Though  the  number  in  the 
after-meeting  was  smaller  than  usual,  the 
service  was  earnest  and  persuasive.  Several 
went  into  the  anteroom,  where  workers 
prayed  with  them  and  pointed  them  to  Christ. 
I  went  with  Mr.  Collier  to  an  "At  Home"  for 
homeless  young  people  over  on  Oxford  Street, 
and  then  bade  him  good-night  and  came  to 
my  hotel. 

AN  HOUR  IN  THE  OFFICE 

This  morning  I  had  an  hour  with  Mr.  Collier 
in  his  office — an  hour  I  shall  not  soon  forget. 
The  man  is  altogether  unconventional,  yet  is 
never  undignified.  He  is  well  built  physically, 
and  seems  to  be  capable  of  an  unlimited 
amount  of  hard  work.  I  said  to  him  as  I 
came  in,  "Well,  is  this  blue  Monday?"  "No," 
said  he,  "I  never  have  any  blue  Mondays.  I 
have  a  cure."  "Many  would  be  glad  to  have 
your  recipe,"  said  I.  "Begin  work  earlier  on 
Monday.  That's  a  sure  cure."  Mr.  Collier  is 
a  graduate  of  Didsbury  College,  and  is  evi- 


MANCHESTEK  AND  SALFOED  MISSION     43 

dently  a  student,  or  he  could  not  preach  as  he 
does.  No  living  man  could  hold  that  great 
audience  of  three  thousand  people  in  Free 
Trade  Hall,  Sunday  after  Sunday  for  nearly 
twenty  years,  without  study.  I  asked  him  if 
he  got  any  time  to  read.  "O,  yes,"  said  he, 
"I  read  for  an  hour  and  a  half  last  night  after 
I  got  home,  and  I  read  for  three  quarters  of  an 
hour  this  morning  before  coming  to  the  office." 
S.  F.  Collier  is  a  born  leader,  a  genius  as  an 
organizer,  a  lovable  nature,  and  his  dominant 
passion  seems  to  be  to  save  men — not  the 
souls  of  men  only,  but  men.  He  told  me  of  the 
new  Hall  and  Institute  that  is  to  be  erected 
on  Peter  Street,  near  the  Free  Trade  Hall. 
"When  we  get  that" — and  how  his  face  lighted 
up  as  he  said  it! — "when  we  get  that,  we  shall 
have  a  proper  home  for  our  work.  And  it's 
going  to  come,  too;  there's  no  doubt  about 
it."  The  anniversary  gift  asked  for  this 
year  is  $25,000— $15,000  to  make  up  the  de- 
ficit, and  $10,000  for  the  new  building,  to 
which  $120,000  has  already  been  subscribed. 
The  total  cost  of  the  new  building  will  be 
$250,000.  While  in  the  office  I  was  told  of 
some  of  the  work  done  by  Gipsy  Smith  during 
the  years  he  was  evangelist  for  this  mission. 
I  saw  in  the  morning  mail  what  especially 


44  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

pleased  me  as  a  college  president — many 
checks,  some  of  them  good-sized,  too,  for  the 
anniversary  and  the  new  building. 

Leaving  the  office,  I  ran  out  to  Didsbury 
College  for  a  couple  of  hours,  and  then  re- 
turned to  my  hotel  to  write  this  letter.  It 
poorly  represents  what  I  have  seen,  but  I 
send  it  on  with  the  hope  that  something  of 
the  new  vision  of  possibility  for  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  city  which  has  come  to  me  may 
through  it  help  somebody  else.  If  I  could 
have  the  ear  of  all  my  brother  ministers  in 
America  who  are  expecting  to  visit  England 
in  the  near  future,  I  should  say:  Leave  Dur- 
ham, York,  and  Lincoln  out  of  your  itinerary, 
or  even  pass  by  Windsor,  Oxford,  and  Strat- 
ford-on-Avon,  rather  than  miss  spending  a 
few  days,  including  a  Sunday,  in  Manchester 
with  S.  F.  Collier  and  his  heroic  helpers,  who 
are  winning  the  slums  of  this  city  to  Jesus 
Christ.  If  you  will  see  the  work  as  I  have 
seen  it,  you  will  feel  as  I  do — you  can't  help 
it.  Miracles  are  happening  here.  The  work 
itself  is  a  miracle. 


CENTRAL  MISSION  HALL,  LIVERPOOL 


CHAPTER  II 
Central  Hall,  Liverpool 

"You  must  see  the  Central  Hall  in  Liver- 
pool. The  work  there  is  simply  terrific.  And 
don't  fail  to  attend  one  of  their  popular  con- 
certs on  Saturday  night/ '  This  was  said  to 
me  yesterday  in  Glasgow  by  Rev.  William 
Lindsay,  son  of  the  great  Professor  Lindsay, 
to  whom  I  had  been  introduced  by  Dr.  George 
Adam  Smith  as  the  greatest  authority  of  the 
United  Free  Church  of  Scotland  on  the  work 
of  institutional  churches.  "He  knows  more 
about  the  institutional  church/'  said  Dr. 
Smith,  "than  the  whole  of  us  put  together." 

Mr.  Lindsay  has  charge  of  an  institutional 
church  in  Glasgow — the  first  and  as  yet  the 
only  one  established  by  the  Free  Church.  I 
had  nearly  an  hour  with  him,  and  found  him 
to  be  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  work  of  the 
Wesley  an  halls.  He  seemed  to  know  about  all 
of  them,  and  spoke  of  their  work  as  one  hav- 
ing authority.  When  he  found  that  I  had 
visited  the  halls  in  both  Manchester  and  Liver- 
pool, he  could  hardly  say  enough  about  the 
work  of  these  two  centers.     He  had  spent 

47 


48  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

some  time  in  Manchester,  and  spoke  with 
greatest  enthusiasm  of  Collier  and  his  mar- 
velous success,  particularly  of  the  social  side 
of  the  work.  "But  the  great  thing  about  it 
all,"  said  he,  "is  its  evangelistic  fervor.  You 
see  there  the  joy  of  the  early  church.  Every- 
body is  busy  and  everybody  happy.  It  is 
the  greatest  work  the  Wesleyans  have,  but  in 
its  way  the  Liverpool  work  is  just  as  impor- 
tant. The  popular  concert  there  is  the 
greatest  thing  of  the  kind  I  ever  saw." 

THE  CONCERT 

I  cannot  say  that  I  should  have  used  the 
adjective  "terrific"  in  describing  the  work  of 
Central  Hall,  Liverpool,  but  the  work  is  hardly 
less  impressive  than  that  in  Manchester.  I 
attended  the  popular  concert  on  last  Satur- 
day evening — ran  over  from  Manchester  to 
do  it.  It  was  well  worth  while,  too.  The 
program  was  not  an  unusual  one,  but  when 
I  arrived  at  the  hall  at  six  o'clock  there  were 
at  least  one  hundred  people  waiting  at  the 
iron  gateway  to  get  in.  This  was  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  before  the  time  an- 
nounced for  the  doors  to  open,  and  an  hour 
and  a  half  before  the  time  for  the  concert  to 
begin.     By  previous  arrangement  I  got  in 


CENTRAL  HALL,  LIVERPOOL  49 

at  a  side  door.  At  half  past  six  I  went  out 
to  see  the  size  of  the  crowd.  The  people  were 
lined  up  two  abreast  and  close  together,  both 
to  the  right  and  left  of  the  gateway.  I  took 
the  right  line  first,  followed  it  a  full  square, 
passing  the  entrance  to  Shaftesbury  Hotel  in 
Mount  Pleasant  Street,  then  up  that  street 
toward  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion Hall.  After  reaching  the  end  of  the  line 
I  found  that  the  distance  back  to  the  en- 
trance of  the  hall  was  one  hundred  and 
seventy-six  yards.  I  took  the  line  stretching 
out  on  Renshaw  Street,  and  found  the  end  to 
be  one  hundred  and  eighteen  yards  from  the 
hall  entrance.  This  was  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
before  the  time  for  the  doors  to  open  and  an 
hour  before  the  concert  was  to  commence. 
And  people  were  still  hurrying  to  get  into  the 
lines,  some  of  them  running. 

MANY  SHUT  OUT 

At  ten  minutes  past  seven  orders  were 
given  not  to  allow  any  more  to  enter,  as  all 
the  twenty-two  hundred  seats  were  filled  and 
all  available  standing  room  taken.  The  police- 
man at  the  entrance  raised  his  white  glove, 
and  the  iron  gates  were  shut  in  the  faces  of 
more   than   five   hundred   people   who   were 


50  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

unable  to  get  in.  The  pitiable  thing  about  it 
was  that  many  of  that  five  hundred  were 
workingmen,  who  could  not  get  there  earlier. 
As  I  looked  at  them  I  began  to  see  more 
clearly  the  meaning  of  what  the  superin- 
tendent, Rev.  Joseph  Jackson,  had  said  to 
me  two  days  before:  "These  concerts  are  to 
get  hold  of  the  laboring  men  and  the  men  in 
the  street  who  never  go  to  church."  He  told 
me  of  a  gentleman  who  came  to  him  recently, 
and  said:  "Mr.  Jackson,  I  was  at  the  concert 
last  Saturday  night,  and  I  didn't  quite  like 
it.  Do  you  think  it  is  the  place  a  Christian 
ought  to  go?"  "Of  course  not,"  said  Mr. 
Jackson,  "it  is  not  for  Christians — it  is  for  the 
men  who  don't  go  to  church.  You  ought  to 
have  been  at  a  prayer  meeting  or  a  class 
meeting  somewhere.  Besides,  you  did  a  posi- 
tive wrong  in  going,  for  you  occupied  a  seat 
that  I  wanted  badly  for  a  poor  workingman 
who  was  shut  out." 

THE  PROGRAM 

These  Saturday  night  concerts — and  they 
are  practically  the  same  in  all  the  Wesleyan 
mission  halls — consist  of  choruses,  quartets, 
vocal  and  instrumental  solos,  humorous  read- 
ings, and  moving  pictures — "animated"  pic- 


REV.  JOSEPH  JACKSON 


CENTEAL  HALL,  LIVEEPOOL  53 

tures,  they  are  called  here,  or  cinematograph 
pictures.  Care  is  taken  to  secure  good  talent, 
professional  people  for  the  most  part.  There 
are  no  reserved  seats  in  the  Liverpool  hall, 
and  the  admission  fee,  including  program,  is 
twopence.  Better-to-do  and  worse-to-do  peo- 
ple all  pay  the  same  admission.  Even  at  this 
admission  fee  the  concerts  pay.  The  net 
profit  is  from  thirty  to  forty  dollars  per  night. 
The  mission  owns  and  operates  its  own  cine- 
matograph, so  that  the  only  cost  for  the 
moving  pictures  is  the  rent  of  the  films. 

The  audience  having  gathered,  the  concert 
began  ten  minutes  before  the  appointed  hour, 
Mr.  Jackson  in  the  chair.  Nothing  is  done  over 
here  without  having  somebody  in  the  chair. 
The  opening  number  was  an  illustrated  hymn 
thrown  upon  the  screen,  the  audience  standing 
and  singing.  My,  but  they  did  sing!  The 
hymn  was,  "Let  the  lower  lights  be  burning/ ' 
each  stanza  with  a  different  view  on  the 
screen — a  lighthouse,  water,  and  rocks  show- 
ing in  each,  with  lifeboat  in  last;  but  the  same 
view  for  the  chorus — and  how  they  did  sing 
out  the  words,  "You  may  rescue,  you  may 
save"!  Then  followed  a  prayer,  which  was 
simple,  earnest,  direct,  and  short.  The  mu- 
sical  attractions  for  the   evening  were    the 


54  THE  CHUECH  AND  THE  SLUM 

Brunswick  Male  Voice  Choir  and  a  contralto 
soloist.  Both  were  good.  The  male  chorus 
showed  fine  training,  and  there  was  a  swing 
about  their  work  which  greatly  pleased  the 
audience.  They  sang  a  wide  range  of  selec- 
tions, from  "A  Pickaninny  Lullaby"  to  the 
"Crusaders'  Song  of  Hope."  They  were  en- 
cored repeatedly.  Two  of  the  encores — "The 
Boys  of  the  Old  Brigade"  and  Root's  "Play 
the  Man" — brought  forth  storms  of  applause. 
When  they  had  been  called  back  twice  after 
one  of  the  numbers,  Mr.  Jackson  took  the 
part  of  the  singers,  and  said:  "That  is  enough 
now;  you  don't  want  to  keep  them  here  all 
night,  do  you?  They  must  get  home  some- 
time." The  contralto  appeared  in  a  rather 
bespangled  gown,  which  was  almost  too  much 
for  the  chairman,  who  turned  to  me  and  said: 
"My!  but  she  is  done  up  regardless,  isn't  she? 
We  do  not  usually  have  that  sort  here.  She 
probably  has  another  engagement  later  in 
the  evening."  But  she  sang  well,  and  greatly 
delighted  the  audience,  especially  with  two  of 
her  encores — "Holiday  Time"  and  "Home, 
Sweet  Home."  Here,  as  with  us,  the  old 
pieces  are  the  favorites.  In  the  moving  pic- 
tures there  was  a  great  variety — humorous, 
entertaining,    and    instructive.      Among   the 


SISTER  KATE  CHANDLER 

A  Deaconess  of  Central  Hall,  Liverpool 


CENTEAL  HALL,  LIVEEPOOL  57 

instructive  was  one  which  lasted  for  nearly 
fifteen  minutes.  It  showed  the  process  of 
tunny  fishing  off  the  coast  of  Sicily — drawing 
up  the  nets,  putting  the  fish  on  ship,  the 
return,  unloading  a  colossal  catch  of  two 
hundred  thousand  pounds,  cleaning  and  cook- 
ing the  fish,  putting  them  in  cans,  and  ex- 
tracting the  oil.  Nothing  in  all  the  program 
pleased  the  people  more  than  the  moving 
pictures.  During  the  interval  between  the 
first  and  second  part  of  the  program  Mr. 
Jackson  announced  the  events  for  the  week. 
It  was  a  full  program,  too — Sunday  services, 
class  meetings,  brotherhood  and  guild  meet- 
ings, and  another  concert  in  one  week.  An- 
nouncement was  also  made  of  the  approaching 
anniversary,  on  November  26,  when  £2,000 
would  be  asked  for,  for  the  double  purpose  of 
paying  off  the  debt  and  carrying  on  the  work. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  second  part  of  the 
program,  and  again  at  the  close,  there  were 
illustrated  hymns — "O!  what  a  Saviour/'  and 
"Onward,  Christian  soldiers."  The  people  of 
Manchester  and  Liverpool  certainly  know  how 
to  sing,  and  they  do  it  so  heartily.  It  did  my 
soul  good  to  hear  them.  The  concert  closed 
at  just  five  minutes  past  ten,  having  lasted 
two  hours  and  forty-five  minutes;  but  not  a 


58  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

man,  woman,  or  child  left  the  room  during 
the  entire  program. 

GOOD  RESULTS 

The  thing  that  most  pleased  me  about  the 
concert  was  that  there  seemed  to  be  a  divine 
purpose  running  through  it  all.  "The  people 
come  to  the  concert/ '  said  one,  "they  get  used 
to  the  place,  then  they  come  to  the  Sunday 
services."  I  was  told  of  many  cases  where 
the  concert  had  been  the  almost  direct  cause 
of  leading  men  to  a  better  life.  One  of  the 
ushers  said,  "It  was  a  concert  which  brought 
me."  He  had  got  pretty  low  down  through 
drink — his  wife  no  better — and  came  one  Sat- 
urday night  to  the  concert.  Josiah  Nix,  the 
race-course  evangelist,  was  introduced  as  a 
man  who  was  going  to  hold  a  ten-days'  mis- 
sion. "I  liked  what  he  said,  and  decided  to 
go  and  hear  him.  I  did  go,  and  was  con- 
verted; so  were  my  wife  and  four  children. 
I  tell  you,  our  home  is  a  different  one  now." 
Another  usher  said,  "We  got  a  good  lot  of 
pledges  to-night."  Here,  as  in  Manchester, 
they  make  much  of  the  pledge,  taking  every 
opportunity  to  urge  it.  One  man  in  the  Man- 
chester Mission — I  think  I  did  not  mention 
this  in  my  letter  from  there — is  called  the 


REV.  CHARLES  GARRETT 


CENTRAL  HALL,  LIVERPOOL  61 

"Pledge  King."    He  has  secured  fifty  thousand 
signers. 

CENTRAL  HALL  AND  CHARLES  GARRETT 

Mr.  Jackson  seems  to  be  a  man  well  adapted 
to  his  work — sees  what  is  to  be  done  and  does 
it.  He  is  a  graduate  of  Headingley  College, 
and  had  four  years  with  Peter  Thompson  in 
the  East  London  Mission.  He  was  with  Josiah 
Nix,  secretary  of  Race  Course  Mission,  and 
was  the  first  secretary  to  the  British  Chau- 
tauqua. He  has  been  in  his  present  position 
for  eight  years.  Mr.  Jackson  is  peculiarly 
fortunate  in  his  building — Central  Hall.  It  is 
new — has  only  been  in  use  for  two  years.  It 
was  built  at  a  cost  of  $250,000.  There  is  still 
a  debt  of  some  $40,000,  but  it  is  so  arranged 
that  it  will  be  gradually  paid  off  at  anni- 
versaries. Central  Hall  was  built  as  a  me- 
morial to  Rev.  Charles  Garrett,  the  founder 
of  the  mission  and  a  man  whose  name  is  still 
almost  a  household  word  in  Liverpool — one  of 
those  rare  men  who  bless  any  city.  His  is  one 
of  the  names  known  in  all  Methodism.  On 
the  right  hand  in  the  great  entrance  hallway 
is  a  bronze  tablet,  reminding  all  who  pass  that 
the  hall  is  a  "Memorial  to  Rev.  Charles 
Garrett,"  and  that  the  Central  Hall  buildings 


62  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

were  opened  December  5,  1905,  by  the  Right 
Honorable  Sir  Henry  Fowler.  The  building 
is  stately  and  imposing,  one  of  the  proud 
structures  of  the  street.  It  contains  not  only 
the  large  auditorium,  but  a  smaller  one,  with 
seating  capacity  for  seven  hundred.  There 
are  also  rooms  for  various  classes  and  guilds. 
There  is  a  coffee  bar,  with  dining  rooms,  where 
one  hundred  and  fifty  poor  girls  get  luncheon 
between  one  and  two  o'clock,  at  a  less  than 
nominal  fee.  There  is  a  social  room  for  the 
men,  with  billiard  and  bagatelle  tables.  The 
table  for  bagatelle  is  one  formerly  used  in  a 
taproom  in  Wales.  On  Sunday  evening  the 
large  auditorium  is  filled  just  as  I  saw  it  at 
the  concert.  Usually  there  is  an  overflow 
meeting  in  the  lower  hall.  Then  in  the  base- 
ment there  is  a  men's  meeting,  something  like 
the  meeting  I  saw  in  Manchester,  only  not 
so  large.  The  social  agencies  include  five 
homes  for  boys  and  girls,  special  missions  to 
lodging-house  men  and  factory  girls,  the 
men's  shelter,  and  police  court  work.  Last 
winter  quite  a  unique  work  was  done  among 
girls  from  the  theaters  in  the  neighborhood. 
A  band  plays  every  Sunday  afternoon  in  the 
open  space  in  front  of  the  great  Saint  George's 
Hall.      Here,    as   in   Manchester,    the   band 


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CENTRAL  HALL,  LIVERPOOL  65 

renders  valuable  service.  Many  a  man  is 
brought  into  the  Sunday  evening  meeting 
through  the  band.  I  asked  a  newsboy  in 
Saint  George's  Hall  Square  if  he  could  tell  me 
where  the  Central  Hall  band  played  on  Sun- 
day. "Yes,  mister/ '  said  he.  "They  play 
just  there  in  front  of  the  steps.  They  play 
every  Sunday  afternoon.  If  you  will  come 
to-morrow  afternoon  at  four  o'clock  you  will 
hear  them." 

NUMBERS  INCREASING 

The  number  of  communicants  in  the  mission 
is  growing  rapidly;  but  the  mission  is  not 
getting  its  congregation  from  other  places  of 
worship.  The  chairman  of  the  district  said, 
not  long  ago:  "This  is  a  new  Methodist  con- 
gregation gathered  from  the  streets."  Some 
dockers  were  overheard  to  say  they  could  not 
recall  when  they  went  to  a  place  of  worship 
before  the  Central  Hall  was  built.  "I  have 
not  been  in  a  hall  or  chapel  since  I  was 
wedded,"  said  one.  A  worker  in  the  mission 
heard  two  young  men,  outside  the  Hall,  one 
Saturday  evening,  arguing  whether  it  should 
be  the  Empire  Music  Hall  or  the  Central  Hall. 
(The  Empire  is  a  large  variety  theater.)  Find- 
ing it  difficult  to  decide,  one  of  them  said, 


66  THE  CHUECH  AND  THE  SLUM 

"Let's  toss  up,"  which  they  did.  Central  Hall 
won.  This  is  only  a  sample  of  what  is  happen- 
ing every  week. 

There  are  seven  halls  in  all  connected  with 
the  Liverpool  Wesleyan  Mission,  and  they 
are,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  poorest  neigh- 
borhoods of  the  city.  Mr.  Jackson  has  three 
assistant  preachers,  three  deaconesses,  and 
seventeen  local  preachers,  and  all  are  busy. 
The  class  meeting  is  a  most  successful  agency 
here.  There  are  over  fourteen  hundred  regu- 
lar attendants  in  class  every  week.  "All  our 
people  love  the  class/ '  said  Mr.  Jackson.  The 
motto  of  the  mission  seems  to  be,  "We  cannot 
have  social  regeneration  without  spiritual  re- 
generation." 

On  leaving  Liverpool  I  felt  as  I  did  when 
I  left  Manchester — that  a  mighty  work  for 
Christ  was  being  done  there.  Miracles  are 
happening,  and  the  kingdom  of  righteousness 
is  being  hastened. 

My  next  letter  will  be  on  the  Central  Hall 
in  Edinburgh,  where  George  Jackson  had  so 
remarkable  a  career. 


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CHAPTER  III 

Central  Hall,  Edinburgh 

When  in  Edinburgh  five  years  ago  I  said 
to  our  hostess,  one  Saturday  evening:  "To- 
morrow will  be  our  first  Sunday  in  your  city. 
Where  shall  we  attend  church?"  After  asking 
what  church  we  attended  at  home,  and  find- 
ing out  that  we  were  Methodists,  the  good 
lady  said:  "Ah,  well,  then,  you  must  hear 
Dinsdale  Young  in  Wesley  Chapel  in  the 
morning,  and  you'll  not  hear  better  in  Edin- 
burgh. Then,  if  you  like,  I  should  be  glad  if 
you  would  hear  our  minister,  Hugh  Black,  in 
Free  Saint  George's  in  the  evening."  George 
Jackson  was  at  that  time  in  the  height  of  his 
popularity  at  the  new  Central  Hall  in  the  West 
End,  almost  under  the  shadow  of  Castle  Hill. 
All  three  men  are  now  gone  from  Edinburgh. 
Young  is  at  City  Road,  London;  Black  is  in 
New  York  city;  and  Jackson  is  in  Toronto. 
These  three  men  wielded  great  influence  from 
the  pulpits  they  occupied.  They  were  quite 
different  in  their  type  of  preaching — Young, 
expository  and  eloquent;  Black,  with  a  touch 
of  the  mystic  in  him,  poetic  and  spiritual; 

69 


70  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

Jackson,  keen,  incisive,  persistently  enthu- 
siastic, his  words  contagious  for  good,  im- 
pressing profoundly  all  who  heard  him. 

BEGINNING  AND  GROWTH 

The  history  of  Central  Hall  is  little  else 
than  romance.  It  is  what  one  likes  to  read 
about  and  hear.  It  makes  one  feel  that  the 
heroes  and  prophets  are  not  all  dead.  The 
hero  of  Central  Hall,  Edinburgh,  is  Rev. 
George  Jackson.  He  came  to  this  city  in  the 
year  1888  to  be  pastor  of  the  Wesley  an  Meth- 
odist Church  in  Nicolson  Square.  Mr.  Jack- 
son had  not  occupied  the  pulpit  in  Nicolson 
Square  many  months  before  he  became  in- 
spired with  the  idea  of  founding  another 
Wesleyan  Methodist  church  in  this  city.  He 
was  deeply  impressed — as  many  others  have 
been — by  the  many  thousands  of  persons  who 
rarely,  if  ever,  enter  a  place  of  worship,  and 
he  felt  that,  notwithstanding  the  predomi- 
nant position  held  by  the  Presbyterians,  Meth- 
odism had  a  place  and  work  where  such  con- 
ditions existed.  The  original  aim  of  Mr. 
Jackson  and  those  who  rallied  around  him 
was  to  gather  a  congregation  and  build  a 
church,  which,  in  his  own  words,  "would  do 
for  the  Methodists  on  the  west  side  of  the 


REV.  GEORGE  JACKSON 


CENTRAL  HALL,  EDINBURGH  73 

city  what  Nicolson  Square  Church  was  al- 
ready doing  on  the  east  side."  The  movement, 
when  it  started,  was  known  as  the  "West  End 
Mission/ '  but  circumstances  gradually  led  to 
its  occupying  a  remarkable  and  commanding 
position,  which  it  has  now  held  for  some  time. 

BOLD  MOVE  FORWARD 

In  starting  the  movement  Mr.  Jackson  was 
ably  assisted  by  a  few  energetic  members  of 
the  Nicolson  Square  congregation.  The  Albert 
Hall  in  Shandwick  Place,  a  few  doors  to  the 
east  of  Saint  George's  Free  Church,  was  se- 
lected as  a  meeting  place.  The  building,  which 
was  then  used  as  a  second  or  third  rate  place 
of  entertainment,  was  rented  at  first  for  Sun- 
days only,  the  opening  service  being  held  in 
November,  1888.  For  the  first  few  months 
the  attendance  was  small,  but  ere  long  there 
were  evident  signs  of  real  progress.  In  June, 
1890,  a  bold  step  was  taken,  when  Synod  Hall 
in  Castle  Terrace  was  engaged  for  the  Sunday 
evening  services.  The  hall,  which  is  one  of  the 
largest  in  the  city,  holds  about  two  thousand 
persons,  and  there  were  many  who  thought 
Mr.  Jackson's  venture  in  entering  this  hall 
was  far  from  judicious,  the  mission  at  that 
time  being  only  two  years  old.    But  the  wis- 


74  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

dom  of  the  step  was  soon  apparent  to  all.  In 
a  remarkably  short  time  "Mr.  Jackson's 
Synod  Hall  Meeting"  (as  it  was  called)  be- 
came one  of  the  Sunday  evening  institutions 
of  Edinburgh.  Week  after  week  the  hall  was 
filled  to  overflowing;  and  from  year  to  year 
the  "meeting"  continued  to  maintain  its 
popularity — one  of  the  most  notable  features, 
perhaps,  being  the  large  number  of  young 
people  who  attended.  The  growth  in  the 
actual  communicant  membership  of  the  mis- 
sion increased  by  years,  as  follows:  In  1889 
it  was  50;  by  the  following  year  it  had  in- 
creased to  100;  in  1891  it  rose  to  201;  in  1892 
it  was  290;  and  by  1893  it  had  reached  357. 
Since  then,  and  up  to  the  time  of  the  building 
of  Central  Hall,  it  increased  steadily  until  it 
reached  nearly  a  thousand. 

Almost  from  the  very  beginning  this  mis- 
sion seemed  to  have  the  good  will  of  the  com- 
munity. This  was  due  in  large  measure,  if 
not  altogether,  to  the  personality  and  attitude 
of  Mr.  Jackson.  From  the  outset  he  depre- 
cated the  idea  of  the  mission  being  in  any 
way  antagonistic  to  other  religious  bodies. 
"We  are  not  here  to  make  Presbyterians  into 
Methodists,"  he  said.  "From  the  first  day 
of  our  existence  we  have  set  our  faces  like 


CENTEAL  HALL,  EDINBURGH  75 

flint  against  proselyting  in  any  form.  Christ's 
army  is  not  any  the  stronger  merely  because 
one  hundred  of  his  soldiers  are  persuaded  to 
change  their  regiment,  although,  of  course, 
there  may  be  individual  cases  in  which  the 
change  is  an  advantage  all  round.  I  often  tell 
my  people  that  if  ever  a  day  should  come 
(which  God  in  his  mercy  forbid!)  when  all 
that  we  can  do  is  to  lead  saints  to  change 
their  ism,  and  not  sinners  to  change  their 
lives,  they  will  have  to  look  out  for  a  new 
superintendent.' '  These  and  similar  broad- 
minded  declarations  were  warmly  recipro- 
cated by  leading  Presbyterians,  ministers  and 
laymen  alike.  Many  gave  Mr.  Jackson  a 
hearty  Godspeed  and  substantial  assistance 
in  a  variety  of  ways.  Among  the  ministers 
who  cooperated  with  him  may  be  named  Dr. 
Alexander  Whyte,  Professor  Marcus  Dods, 
Dr.  John  Watson,  Dr.  George  Matheson,  Dr. 
Stalker,  and  Dr.  Denney. 

Mr.  Jackson  did  much  to  increase  his  popu- 
larity and  influence  here  by  his  writings.  His 
book  First  Things  First,  which  has  passed 
through  several  editions,  was  warmly  received 
by  the  people  of  Edinburgh.  This  book  is  a 
collection  of  addresses  to  young  men.  It 
offers  good  opportunity  for  insight  into  Mr. 


76  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

Jackson's  methods  of  thought  as  well  as  his 
style.  It  displays  something  of  the  gifts 
which  gave  him  such  meed  of  popularity  here 
in  the  Scottish  capital.  All  his  discourses  had 
a  manly  ring  about  them.  Without  being 
sensational,  or  going  out  of  his  way  to  make 
himself  singular,  he  was  entirely  unconven- 
tional. He  is  a  man  of  high  ideals,  and  great 
earnestness  distinguishes  all  his  efforts.  With- 
out being  an  orator  in  the  ordinary  sense,  he 
is  a  highly  effective  speaker;  his  style  is  terse 
rather  than  grandiloquent,  and  incisive  rather 
than  rhetorical. 

It  was  through  the  ability,  zeal,  and  or- 
ganizing skill  of  Rev.  George  Jackson  that 
Central  Hall  was  built  and  finally  opened  in 
October,  1901.  When  the  question  of  the 
building  was  first  mooted,  it  was  suggested 
that  an  adequate  mission  house  could  be 
erected  at  a  cost  not  exceeding  $75,000.  At 
that  time  a  scheme  so  bold  as  what  was  even- 
tually adopted  was  not  even  dreamed  of. 
But  the  size  of  the  congregation,  together 
with  the  magnificent  opportunity,  led  Mr. 
Jackson  to  push  his  way  toward  the  final 
erection  of  Central  Hall,  which  cost  $250,000. 
It  has  an  audience  room  which  will  accom- 
modate two  thousand  people,  and  is  admirably 


CENTRAL  HALL,  EDINBURGH  77 

adapted  in  all  ways  to  the  purpose  of  the  mis- 
sion. There  is  still  a  debt — rather  a  large  one 
— but,  with  the  rental  of  the  stores  underneath 
and  the  proceeds  of  the  anniversaries,  the 
debt  is  in  such  shape  as  not  to  be  a  burden. 
For  many  of  the  above  facts  I  am  indebted 
to  a  very  comprehensive  article  which  ap- 
peared in  the  British  Monthly  of  October, 
1901,  written  shortly  before  the  opening  of 
the  hall. 

EXPRESSIONS  OF  GOOD  WILL 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  all  the  prom- 
ises for  the  success  of  Central  Hall  made  at 
its  opening  have  been  fulfilled.  Mr.  Jackson 
was  with  the  mission  for  five  years  after  the 
opening  of  the  new  building.  His  popularity 
and  influence  continued  to  increase  up  to  the 
time  he  left.  Much  joy  has  been  expressed 
because  of  a  recent  announcement  in  the 
Methodist  Recorder,  that  after  two  years 
more  in  Toronto,  Mr.  Jackson  will  return  to 
England.  Where  his  work  will  be  is  not  now 
known,  but  good  opportunities  will  open  to 
him. 

The  thing  that  most  impresses  me  here  is 
that  the  mission  is  totally  different  from  what 
I  saw  in  Manchester  and  Liverpool.    In  fact, 


78  THE  CHUECH  AND  THE  SLUM 

it  is  not  a  mission  at  all,  in  the  sense  of  em- 
phasizing rescue  work.  It  is  simply  a  great 
people's  church,  quite  similar  in  character  to 
Spurgeon's  Tabernacle  in  London.  Of  course, 
constant  appeal  is  being  made  to  men  to  sur- 
render their  lives  to  Jesus  Christ,  but  the 
mission  is  not  in  touch  with  the  slum.  One 
of  the  stewards  said,  in  reply  to  a  question: 
"O,  yes,  Mr.  Jackson  did  try  once  to  get  in 
some  of  the  slum  people.  They  came  to  one 
service,  but  they  did  not  come  again — at  least 
not  many  of  them."  Another  steward  said: 
"You  would  hardly  expect  slum  people  to 
come  here.  These  are  respectable  folk  who 
come  to  Central  Hall."  Yet,  in  its  way,  Cen- 
tral Hall  is  doing  a  remarkable  work  for  the 
common  people — the  artisan  class,  the  fairly 
well-to-do  working  people.  The  venerable 
Dr.  Alexander  Whyte  said  to  me:  "Yes,  it's 
a  great  work  they  are  doing  in  Central  Hall. 
We  all  look  with  favor  upon  it."  Dr.  John 
Kelman,  successor  to  Hugh  Black,  whom  I 
heard  with  great  delight  on  Sunday  morning 
— a  man  of  rare  preaching  power,  in  fact,  the 
most  popular  preacher  in  Edinburgh  to-day — 
said,  when  asked  what  Central  Hall  was  doing 
that  the  churches  could  not  do :  "It  is  doing  a 
great  deal.    There  is  a  freedom  and  a  brother- 


CENTEAL  HALL,  EDINBURGH  79 

hood  about  it  which  the  people  like.  It 
reaches  them  in  large  numbers.  George  Jack- 
son is  a  remarkable  man.  I  believe  in  him 
down  to  his  boots,  and  the  present  superin- 
tendent is  carrying  on  the  work  well."  Pro- 
fessor Paterson,  whom  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  at  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  a  year  ago  last 
May,  when  he  was  attending  the  Presbyterian 
General  Assembly  as  fraternal  representative 
from  the  Scottish  Kirk,  said  to  me  last  even- 
ing that  Mr.  Jackson's  work  in  Central  Hall 
was  a  real  contribution  to  the  Christian  work 
of  the  city.  He  felt  there  could  not  be  too 
much  work  of  that  kind.  From  all  classes  of 
people  I  have  heard  only  good  words  for 
Central  Hall.  It  has  the  confidence  of  the 
community  to  a  remarkable  degree,  but  it  is 
not  doing  rescue  work,  as  it  is  understood  in 
the  London  missions  and  in  Manchester  and 
Liverpool.  In  fact,  the  only  church  that  is 
doing  anything  of  that  sort  here  is  the  Estab- 
lished Church  of  Scotland.  I  was  in  one  of 
their  Homes  last  evening,  and  was  greatly 
delighted  with  what  I  saw.  A  little  rescue 
work  has  been  done  by  the  Church  Army  of 
the  English  Church;  and,  of  course,  the  Sal- 
vation Army  here,  as  everywhere,  is  going  to 
the  very  lowest.     I  ought  to  say  for  Central 


80  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

Hall  that,  a  month  ago,  meetings  were  opened 
in  the  Alhambra  Theater — a  rather  low  va- 
riety place — under  its  auspices,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  reaching  the  slum  district.  The 
present  superintendent,  Rev.  F.  H.  Benson, 
is  very  anxious  about  this  work,  but  so  far 
the  venture  has  been  a  doubtful  success. 
One  of  the  stewards  reported  last  evening 
that  there  were  only  two  hundred  present  at 
the  meeting,  and  "half  of  them  children.' '  The 
slum  districts  exist  in  Edinburgh;  some  of 
them  are  as  bad  as  anything  to  be  found  in 
East  End,  London ;  but  the  churches  have  not 
yet  seriously  grappled  with  the  problem. 
This  has  been  said  to  me  frankly  by  several 
men  of  influence  in  this  city. 

I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  report  that  Central 
Hall,  under  Mr.  Benson,  the  new  superin- 
tendent, who  has  been  here  now  for  little 
more  than  twelve  months,  is  in  the  high  tide 
of  success.  The  mission  is  certainly  for- 
tunate in  securing  a  man  to  succeed  Mr.  Jack- 
son who  seems  to  have  just  the  qualities  of 
leadership  necessary  to  success  here.  Mr. 
Benson  is  a  young  man,  thirty-four  years  of 
age,  and  has  been  out  of  college  (Headingley) 
only  ten  years.  I  heard  him  on  Sunday  night, 
when  the  hall  was  packed.    He  preached  from 


REV.  F.  H.  BENSON 


CENTRAL  HALL,  EDINBURGH  83 

the  text,  "And  they  left  their  father  Zebedee 
in  the  boat."  The  sermon  was  a  discriminating, 
strong,  and  forceful  putting  of  call  and  re- 
sponsible choice.  The  appeal  to  young  men 
to  hear  the  call  of  Jesus  Christ,  surrendering 
everything  that  he  asked,  was  simply  tre- 
mendous. The  after-service  continued  for  half 
an  hour,  about  two  hundred  remaining.  It 
was  a  wholesome,  impressive  service,  but  noth- 
ing in  it  touched  me  so  much  as  the  prayer  of 
a  white-haired  old  man  who,  in  broad  Scotch, 
prayed  "for  the  bairns  who  have  gone  awa' 
quenching  the  Spirit."  Immediately  follow- 
ing the  after-service  was  a  social  hour  in  the 
guild  room,  in  which  perhaps  a  hundred  young 
men  and  women,  most  of  them  living  in  lodg- 
ing houses,  sat  about  tables,  had  a  cup  of  tea, 
and  conversed.  There  was  some  singing, 
joined  in  by  the  whole  company,  and  a  solo 
by  one  of  the  members  of  the  choir. 

CONCERT  AND  MEN'S  MEETING 

On  Friday  evening  I  attended  one  of  the 
guild  meetings  of  the  mission,  which  is  some- 
thing like  one  of  our  Epworth  League  services. 
I  also  attended  the  concert  on  Saturday  night, 
which  was  quite  unlike  the  one  I  attended  in 
Liverpool.     It  was  simply  a  high-grade  con- 


84  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

cert,  such  as  one  might  hear  in  any  good 
music  hall,  the  admission  being  a  shilling, 
sixpence,  and  threepence.  Half  the  house 
was  at  threepence;  only  a  few  had  reserved 
seats  at  a  shilling.  The  only  thing  about  the 
concert  which  indicated  that  it  was  under 
church  auspices  was  the  fact  that  announce- 
ment of  the  services  for  the  following  day  was 
on  the  program. 

The  men's  meeting  on  Sunday  afternoon 
was  a  great  affair.  There  were  a  thousand 
present,  and  an  address  was  given  by  Mr. 
Andrew  Young,  head  teacher  of  the  West 
Canongate  School,  which  is  located  in  one  of 
the  worst  districts  of  Edinburgh.  He  spoke 
on  "The  Rights  of  Child  Life."  He  men- 
tioned as  the  fundamental  rights  of  the  child 
(1)  the  right  to  be  well-born;  (2)  the  right  to 
live;    (3)  the   right   to  have   a   good   home; 

(4)  the  right  to  the  kindness  of  a  mother; 

(5)  the  right  to  a  father  who  respects  his  own 
life.  He  spoke  for  forty  minutes  on  the  sec- 
ond point,  "The  Right  to  Live."  He  called 
attention  to  the  fearful  mortality  of  child  life 
in  the  slum  districts  of  Edinburgh,  and  gave 
most  pathetic  illustrations  of  cases  which  had 
come  under  his  notice  in  the  vicinity  of  his 
school.    He  portrayed  in  a  most  thrilling  way 


CENTRAL  HALL,  EDINBURGH  85 

the  awful  ravages  of  drink,  but  maintained 
that  mothers'  going  out  to  work  was  responsi- 
ble for  killing  more  infants  and  children  than 
drink.  Mr.  Young  is  a  man  about  forty  years 
of  age,  and  reminds  me  very  much  of  Jacob 
Riis  in  his  manner  of  presenting  the  cause  of 
the  poor.  I  have  heard  nothing  since  I  landed 
which  was  more  of  a  real  message  than  this 
address  of  Mr.  Young. 

At  the  close  of  the  service  I  waited  for  a 
private  interview  with  the  speaker.  He  told 
me  much  of  his  work  in  the  vicinity  of  North 
Canongate  and  of  his  methods  of  dealing  with 
the  poor  families  in  his  school  parish.  He  is 
a  man,  as  I  learned  before  hearing  him,  who 
has  had  offers  of  much  more  lucrative  school 
positions,  but  he  feels  that  he  has  a  real  call 
to  the  work  he  is  doing  in  the  North  Canon- 
gate  district.  Among  other  questions  I  asked 
him  how  he  ever  got  out  of  the  conditions 
which  he  had  described  as  so  completely 
shutting  him  in  when  he  was  nine  years  of 
age.  His  answer  I  shall  never  forget.  He 
said:  "  It  was  this  way:  when  I  was  a  lad  of 
about  seventeen  I  was  touched  by  the  Moody 
meetings/ '  Is  not  this  about  the  finest  fruit- 
age of  the  great  revival,  or  spiritual  awaken- 
ing, that  a  youth,  here  and  there,  is  touched, 


86  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

who  a  quarter  of  a  century  later,  because  of 
what  happened  in  the  revival,  leads  in  some 
great  moral  reform  or  takes  an  heroic  stand 
for  righteousness?  Mr.  Young's  explanation 
of  how  he  got  out  of  awful  depths  to  a  position 
of  honor,  distinction,  and  influence  in  educa- 
tion wTas  simply  this:  "  I  was  touched  by  the 
Moody  meetings. "  How  many  there  are — 
some  we  know  about  and  some  we  do  not — 
who  are  even  now  being  touched  by  the  earnest 
spiritual  message  of  some  faithful  and  devoted 
pastor  or  evangelist.  It  was  just  such  a  touch 
that  gave  to  the  world  a  Spurgeon. 


CENTRAL  MISSION  HALL,  BIRMINGHAM 


CHAPTER  IV 

Leeds,  Bradford,  Sheffield,  and 
Birmingham 

Coming  down  from  Edinburgh  to  Leeds,  I 
found  conditions  much  like  those  I  had  seen 
in  Manchester  and  Liverpool.  Leeds  is  the 
fifth  city  of  England  in  point  of  population. 
It  lies  in  the  center  of  a  richly  productive 
agricultural  and  grazing  region  noted  for  its 
extensive  coal  fields.  It  has  exceptional  rail- 
road facilities  and  water  connection  with  both 
east  and  west  coasts.  Located  not  far  from 
an  old  Roman  station,  Leeds  has  been  an  im- 
portant center  since  the  times  of  the  Saxons. 
Its  first  charter  was  granted  by  King  John, 
and  dates  from  1208.  As  a  manufacturing 
city  it  is  chiefly  known  as  the  great  center  of 
the  British  woolen  trade.  The  iron  industry 
has  important  place  in  the  city's  activities; 
there  are  also  extensive  manufactures  of 
earthenware,  leather  goods,  silks,  paper,  glass, 
and  fire  brick.  It  is  claimed  that  the  an- 
nual value  of  the  Leeds  products  is  about 
$60,000,000. 

89 


90  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

METHODISM  IN  LEEDS 

Two  generations  ago  this  thriving  York- 
shire city  was  fairly  overflowing  with  Meth- 
odists. A  vicar  of  the  time  said,  "Methodism 
is  the  established  church  of  Leeds/ '  He  was 
not  far  wrong,  for  in  those  days  every  seventh 
man  was  a  Methodist.  Right  in  the  heart  of 
the  city  and  within  a  few  minutes'  walk  of 
each  other  were  four  Wesleyan  chapels,  with 
seating  capacity  of  two  thousand  each,  and 
all  filled  every  Sunday.  Fifty  years  later  a 
very  different  condition  of  things  existed. 
The  four  chapels  were  almost  deserted.  The 
attendance  of  all  four  was  not  more  than  the 
attendance  of  one  had  been  in  the  years  of 
prosperity.  Great  manufactories  had  been 
built  in  the  locality,  and  people  of  the  better- 
to-do  class  had  moved  to  the  outlying  dis- 
tricts. The  chapels  were  in  a  sad  state  of 
discouragement . 

The  Methodists  of  Leeds  faced  the  very 
problem  we  have  been  facing  in  these  recent 
years  in  our  larger  cities.  We  have  solved 
the  problem  in  some  places  by  selling  our 
downtown  churches  and  using  the  money  to 
build  new  uptown  churches.  The  Wesleyans 
determined  upon  another  method.  They 
turned  one  of  the  chapels — Wesley — into  a 


"  :, ":- ; 


WMW!;:: 


REV.  C.  W.  ANDREWS 


LEEDS  93 

mission.  This  was  seventeen  years  ago.  Later, 
two  others — Saint  Peter's  and  Oxford  Place — 
were  added.  The  problem  of  Saint  Peter's  is 
still  unsolved.  This  chapel  is  in  the  slummiest 
part  of  the  city,  crowded  with  Irish  and  Jew- 
ish population.  At  Wesley  and  Oxford  Place 
the  success  has  been  most  marked.  Every 
Sunday  the  auditoriums  at  these  centers  are 
crowded  to  overflowing.  Oxford  Place  is  per- 
haps the  largest  of  all  the  halls.  It  is  the  old 
chapel  done  over,  but  at  an  expense  of  $150,- 
000,  and  presents  a  stately  appearance  even 
when  looked  at  in  comparison  with  the  fine 
Town  Hall  just  opposite.  The  growth  in 
membership  in  these  three  missionized  chapels, 
from  1890  to  1906,  was  from  301  to  1,988— a 
net  increase  of  1,687.  But  the  growth  in  mem- 
bership is  only  a  slight  indication  of  the  actual 
work  and  growth  of  Methodism  in  the  down- 
town district  of  Leeds.  The  prevailing  note 
seventeen  years  ago  was  utter  discouragement. 
This  statement  is  made  on  the  authority  of 
representative  men  who  know  the  facts.  The 
prevailing  note  to-day  is  one  of  triumph. 
Thus  in  less  than  twenty  years  Wesleyan 
Methodists  have  solved  the  problem  of  the 
deserted  chapels  in  the  downtown  district  of 
Leeds.     Of  course,  there  is  much  yet  to  be 


94  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

done ;  but  victory  is  in  the  air,  and  one  cannot 
be  on  the  ground  twenty-four  hours  without 
feeling  the  thrill  of  conquest. 

REV.  SAMUEL  CHADWICK 

Within  the  past  two  weeks  I  have  read 
with  care  the  reports  of  twelve  of  the  Wes- 
leyan  Mission  Halls,  but  none  has  impressed 
me  more  than  that  of  the  Leeds  Mission  by 
Rev.  Samuel  Chadwick,  who  until  the  last 
Conference  had  been  for  sixteen  years  the  in- 
spiring superintendent  of  this  mission.  Mr. 
Chadwick's  description  of  how  he  became  a 
missioner  is  certainly  interesting  and  sugges- 
tive. His  first  work  was  as  a  lay  missioner 
in  Rossendale,  with  a  population  of  quarry- 
men  and  factory  workers.  There  he  faced 
the  problem  of  bringing  the  godless  and  in- 
different to  the  house  of  God.  In  spite  of  his 
best  sermons,  and  after  giving  himself  with- 
out stint  to  every  form  of  religious  activity, 
members  were  stolid  and  outsiders  indifferent. 
He  grew  desperate.  Then  came  a  revelation, 
a  crisis,  and  a  baptism.  In  looking  for  guid- 
ance in  Christian  service  he  was  led  to  study 
the  resurrection  of  Lazarus  and  its  results. 
For  weeks  the  story  possessed  him.  The 
miracle  seemed  to  accomplish  just  what  was 


LEEDS  95 

needed  in  Rossendale.  He  felt  that  if  they 
could  only  get  Jesus  and  Lazarus  into  touch 
with  each  other  they  would  see  wonders. 

"My  heart/ '  he  says,  "began  to  cry  for  the 
big,  strapping  fellows  abandoned  and  buried 
beyond  all  hope.  The  Lazaruses  in  that 
valley  were  very  many,  and  it  seemed  as  if 
my  heart  would  break.  If  only  we  could  get 
a  Lazarus!  Then  people  would  flock  to  see 
a  man  who  had  been  raised  from  the  dead. 
.  .  .  With  unwearying  persistence  we  prayed 
that  the  Lord  would  save  the  worst,  and  send 
a  man  so  dead  and  buried  in  sin  that  his 
wickedness  was  offensively  notorious  and 
overwhelmingly  bad.  God  heard  our  cry. 
The  man  came  of  his  own  accord  and  volun- 
teered to  sign  the  pledge.  He  was  a  dreadful 
character;  everybody  knew  him  and  every- 
body believed  it  impossible  for  him  to  be  any 
better.  He  was  the  terror  of  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  did  the  most  extraordinary  things 
out  of  sheer  deviltry.  A  fortnight  after  he  had 
signed  the  pledge  he  came  to  the  service  and 
our  hearts  nearly  stood  still  as  he  walked 
down  the  aisle  and  flung  himself  at  the  com- 
munion rail.  He  was  gloriously  saved,  and 
there  was  a  shout  among  the  redeemed  that 
night.    We  got  our  Lazarus.  .  .  .  We  had  not 


96  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

long  to  wait  for  the  crowd.  The  news  of  his 
conversion  spread  like  wildfire.  It  was  dis- 
cussed in  every  public  house  and  every  barber 
shop  in  the  district.  Hundreds  came  to 
church,  not  to  see  Jesus,  but  the  man  he  had 
raised  from  the  dead.  A  glorious  revival  fol- 
lowed, in  which  many  were  turned  to  God. 
That  was  my  first  great  discovery.  Lazarus 
solves  the  problem  of  empty  churches.  He 
is  the  greatest  attraction  and  the  strongest 
argument.  Wherever  there  is  the  continual 
operation  of  saving  power,  bringing  dead  men 
out  of  their  graves,  the  work  of  the  Lord  will 
prosper.  For  this  power  there  is  no  substitute, 
and  it  never  fails.  There  are  no  languishing 
churches  where  souls  are  saved.  People  be- 
lieve when  they  see  graves  opened  and  the 
dead  come  forth  in  newness  of  life.  This  has 
been  the  first  fundamental  of  my  working 
creed."  "It  is  no  exaggeration,"  says  Mr. 
Chadwick,  "to  say  that  all  I  know  of  mission 
work  was  discovered  in  that  revival." 

The  second  fundamental  of  his  working 
creed — and  he  has  only  two — was  found  in  a 
very  different  way.  It  was  at  Clydebank, 
Glasgow,  a  new  town  which  had  sprung  up 
with  the  rapidity  of  one  of  our  Western  Amer- 
ican  cities   because   of   the   large   industrial 


DR.   H.  J.   POPE 

General  Secretary  Wesleyan  Home 
Mission  Fund 


LEEDS  99 

works  which  had  been  planted  there.  The 
Lazarus  was  soon  found,  but  the  "epoch- 
making  event/ '  as  Mr.  Chad  wick  calls  it,  was 
a  bit  of  temperance  work  which  he  undertook 
single-handed.  He  found  that  the  brewers 
had  seized  the  most  strategic  positions  for 
public  houses,  and  when  the  spring  sessions 
came  round  they  made  application  for  five 
new  licenses.  Temperance  workers  in  the 
community  were  discouraged  because  of  pre- 
vious failures,  and  the  young  missioner  saw 
that  if  anything  was  done  he  must  do  it. 
The  experience  in  the  court  room  is  best  told 
in  Mr.  Chadwick's  own  words:  "It  was  my 
first  appearance  in  court.  The  proceeding 
was  unusual,  and  there  was  a  wrangle  over  a 
question  of  order,  in  which  I  scored.  The 
barrister  who  held  the  brief  for  the  applicants 
made  great  sport  of  me,  and  everybody  ex- 
cept myself  seemed  to  enjoy  the  fun;  but  the 
Lord  delivered  him  into  my  hands.  He 
wound  up  his  banter  with  an  attack  upon  me 
as  a  minister,  and  in  mocking  tones  instructed 
me  in  my  pastoral  duties  as  a  shepherd  of  the 
flock  of  Christ.  It  was  hard  to  bear,  but  I  sat 
still.  At  last  he  turned  to  me,  and  with  with- 
ering scorn  said:  T  should  like  to  ask  this 
young-looking  shepherd,  What  hast  thou  done 


100  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

with  the  few  sheep  in  the  wilderness  V  Quick 
as  thought  I  sprang  to  my  feet  and  flung  out 
the  answer,  'Don't  you  trouble  about  my 
sheep;  I  am  after  the  wolf  to-day.'  Then  the 
laugh  was  on  the  other  side,  and  those  sedate 
old  magistrates  cheered  like  schoolboys.  We 
got  the  wolf,  but  more  important  than  the 
fact  that  for  three  years  we  prevented  any 
new  license  being  granted  was  that  on  my 
feet  in  that  court  I  discovered  the  second 
working  principle  of  a  missioner's  life.  From 
that  day  I  have  regarded  it  as  an  essential 
part  of  my  sacred  calling  to  hunt  the  wolf  as 
well  as  to  care  for  the  sheep." 

It  was  from  such  training  and  experience, 
and  with  the  feeling  that  outcasts  are  not 
difficult  to  reach  when  the  church  really  wants 
them,  that  Mr.  Chadwick  went  to  Leeds  in 
1890,  an  evangelist  and  a  social  reformer  who 
thoroughly  loved  to  track  a  wolf.  From  the 
beginning,  however,  he  emphasized  the  fact 
that  conversion  is  the  key  to  the  problem  of 
personal  salvation  and  church  prosperity. 
The  transformation  which  came  about  in 
Wesley  Chapel,  Saint  Peter's,  and  Oxford 
Place  has  already  been  described.  For  six- 
teen years  Mr.  Chadwick,  who  is  regarded  as 
one  of  the  strongest  preachers  of  the  Wes- 


LEEDS  101 

leyan  Church,  has  maintained  in  Leeds,  at  the 
sessions  of  the  Conference  and  at  mission  an- 
niversaries, that  the  mission  of  a  mission  is 
to  save  the  lost,  attack  the  devil,  and  bring 
in  the  kingdom  of  God.  His  definition  of 
mission  theology  is  so  thoroughly  pertinent 
that  I  cannot  forbear  giving  two  quotations: 
"An  evangelistic  mission  implies  an  evan- 
gelical faith.  A  theology  that  is  not  mission- 
ary is  of  no  use  in  a  world  like  ours.  The 
frozen  abstractions  of  metaphysics  are  as 
powerless  to  save  as  the  dead  creeds  of  tra- 
dition. The  speculations  of  theologians  must 
be  tested  by  their  power  to  heal  and  save. 
Missions  exist  for  the  lost.  Their  work  is  not 
educational  and  social,  but  spiritual  and  re- 
demptive." "  Any  thing  less  than  Deity  is 
powerless  to  save  men  from  sin.  If  Jesus  be 
not  God,  he  may  be  a  great  philosopher,  a 
superb  idealist,  an  unrivaled  guide  to  the  new 
order  of  life,  but  he  is  useless  as  a  Saviour. 
Let  the  new  theologies  prove  themselves  in 
missionary  campaigns  among  the  lost.  Mis- 
sions have  no  use  for  a  Christ  that  cannot 
save  to  the  uttermost  all  who  come  unto  him. 
For  the  same  reason  we  hold  to  the  complete 
and  final  authority  of  the  Scriptures.  We 
cannot  go  to  the  perishing  with  the  'perhaps' 


102  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

of  balanced  probabilities.  We  need  the  cer- 
tainty of  a  Thus  saith  the  Lord/  "  Mr.  Chad- 
wick's  work  in  Leeds  is  hardly  surpassed  by 
any. 

My  visit  to  Oxford  Place  was  on  one  of  the 
class-meeting  nights,  where  from  many  rooms 
there  rang  out  inspiring  hymns  and  gospel 
songs.  The  present  superintendent,  Rev.  C. 
W.  Andrews,  has  recently  come  from  a  most 
successful  work  at  Bolton.  Oxford  Chambers 
adjoins  the  chapel  proper.  Here  are  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Wesley  Guild,  which  is  the 
Epworth  League  of  English  Methodism. 
Headingley  College,  situated  in  an  attractive 
suburb  twenty  minutes'  ride  from  Leeds,  is 
an  institution  of  which  English  Methodism 
may  be  justly  proud.  Dr.  Banks  and  Pro- 
fessor Findlay,  distinguished  and  honored 
professors  in  this  college,  are  both  ardent 
friends  of  the  mission  halls.  Dr.  Banks  has 
been  chairman  of  the  Leeds  Mission  from  the 
beginning,  and  is  a  strong  believer  in  the  work 
which  is  being  done.  On  leaving  Leeds  and 
thinking  over  what  I  had  seen  and  what  I  had 
been  told  of  the  transformations  which  had 
come  about  in  the  sixteen  years  in  these  de- 
serted chapels,  it  seemed  a  real  fulfillment  of 
the  prophecy,  'The  desert  shall  rejoice,  and 


Q 
O 
Q 


w 

o 

O 
« 

H 
H 


BRADFORD  105 

blossom  as  the  rose.    It  shall  blossom  abund- 
antly, and  rejoice  even  with  joy  and  singing." 

BRADFORD  MISSION 

In  the  late  afternoon  I  went  by  express 
train  to  Bradford,  a  thirty-minute  run,  where 
I  spent  three  hours  with  Rev.  H.  M.  Nield 
in  Eastbrook  Hall.  On  leaving  Manchester 
Mr.  Collier  said  to  me:  " Whatever  else  you 
do,  you  must  go  and  see  Nield's  Brotherhood 
in  Bradford.  It  is  the  greatest  thing  in  Eng- 
land." Later,  a  mission  worker  said:  "Have 
you  been  to  Bradford?  They  have  a  great 
Brotherhood  there,  made  by  a  race  horse." 
Another  said:  "The  success  at  Bradford  is  all 
due  to  a  fortunate  tip  on  the  races."  I  had 
heard  so  much  about  the  man  and  his  methods 
that  I  was  quite  prepared  to  find  Mr.  Nield 
something  of  a  sensationalist.  He  was  in 
conference  with  a  dozen  of  his  associates  when 
I  arrived,  which  gave  me  ample  opportunity 
to  see  the  main  features  of  the  glorious  hall 
before  our  interview. 

EASTBROOK  HALL 

Eastbrook  Hall  is  new;  it  was  opened  only 
three  years  ago.  Its  appearance,  facing  the 
street,  is  quite  like  a  first-class  music  hall. 


10G  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

The  auditorium  is  reached  by  a  broad  en- 
trance-way, and  is  on  the  plan  of  the  Ber- 
mondsey  (London)  Mission  Hall.  There  are 
sittings  for  something  over  two  thousand. 
The  room  is  well  lighted  and  has  a  most  ex- 
cellent system  of  ventilation.  The  lower  part 
of  the  building  faces  two  streets.  It  is  de- 
voted to  shops  and  offices.  The  upper  stories 
are  divided  up  into  halls,  classrooms,  club- 
rooms,  and  rooms  for  the  Men's  Institute. 
The  building  is  a  marvel  when  one  takes  into 
account  the  cost — $150,000.  It  represents 
more  for  the  money  than  anything  else  I  have 
seen. 

A  TIP  ON  THE  RACES 

After  taking  tea  with  Mr.  Nield  and  his 
associates,  and  visiting,  under  his  guidance, 
parts  of  the  building  I  had  not  seen,  I  spent 
an  hour  with  him  in  the  vestry.  When  we 
were  alone  I  said,  "Mr.  Nield,  I  want  you  to 
tell  me  the  story  of  your  race  horse  of  which 
I  have  heard  so  much."  After  some  hesita- 
tion he  told  me  this  story:  "Some  two  years 
and  a  half  ago,  shortly  after  this  hall  was 
opened  and  the  week  before  the  races,  I  an- 
nounced that  I  would  speak  on  Sunday  after- 
noon at  three  o'clock  to  men,  on  the  subject, 
'What'll  Win?'    We  had  worked  up  the  meet- 


REV.  H.  M.  NIELD 


BEADFOED  109 

ing  pretty  carefully,  advertising  it  well,  and 
the  hall  was  nearly  filled.  In  beginning  my 
address,  I  said:  'Men,  what  are  you  here  for? 
You  certainly  do  not  expect  a  Wesleyan 
parson  to  give  you  a  tip  on  the  races.'  Then, 
pulling  out  of  my  pocket  a  card  which  had 
been  sent  to  me  anonymously  the  day  before, 
I  said :  'Evidently  someone  does  expect  me  to 
do  just  that,  for  I  have  received  this  card, 
which  reads:  "As  to  your  subject  for  Sunday 
afternoon  on  What' 11  Win?  would  say  that 
Hackley's  Pride  is  good  for  the  Cambridge- 
shire/;  '  Well,  there  was  a  regular  guffaw 
all  over  the  house.  Hackley's  Pride  was  a 
fourth-rate  horse  which  nobody  expected  any- 
thing of.  The  thing  that  happened  was  this: 
On  the  following  Wednesday  Hackley's  Pride 
won  the  Cambridgeshire.  The  next  Sunday 
afternoon  Eastbrook  Hall  was  filled  long  be- 
fore the  hour  for  the  meeting,  and  hundreds 
were  turned  away.  It  has  been  full  every 
Sunday  since.  Over  five  thousand  men  have 
joined  the  Brotherhood  within  two  years  and 
a  half,  and  there  are  now  actually  3,725  mem- 
bers. All  wear  a  blue  and  gold  button  with 
the  letters  <E.  B.'  on  it." 

The  growth  and  success  of  this  Brother- 
hood is  certainly  a  triumph.     It  is  known 


110  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

throughout  all  England.  No  feature  of  the 
mission  hall  work,  apart  from  the  social  side 
of  Mr.  Collier's  activity,  is  spoken  of  so  fre- 
quently as  the  Brotherhood  at  Bradford.  It 
is  the  phenomenal  success  of  this  Brotherhood, 
and  of  others  which  have  sprung  up  because 
of  it,  which  led  Mr.  Perks  to  suggest  the  idea 
of  a  federated  Brotherhood  for  all  Methodism. 
After  the  experience  of  that  hour  in  the  ves- 
try, during  which  I  talked  with  Mr.  Nield 
concerning  the  character  of  his  methods  and 
the  nature  of  his  appeal,  I  was  thoroughly 
convinced  that  there  was  nothing  of  the  sen- 
sationalist about  the  man.  He  is  simply  a 
true,  brave,  fearless  preacher  of  the  gospel. 

A  FEAV  FACTS 

The  following  crisp  paragraphs  from  the 
latest  report  of  this  mission  are  suggestive: 

"The  Eastbrook  Brotherhood  has  enrolled 
over  five  thousand  members  in  two  and  a  half 
years.  Brotherhoods  have  sprung  up  all  over 
the  city,  but  the  'E.  B.'  reports  3,725  members 
at  the  present  time." 

"The  Eastbrook  Women's  Meeting  has  en- 
rolled over  two  thousand  members  in  eighteen 
months,  and  has  to-day  1,643  members  on  its 
registers." 


SHEFFIELD  AND  BIRMINGHAM  111 

"During  the  three  years  the  hall  has  been 
opened,  1,184  penitents  have  passed  through 
the  inquiry  room.  The  'soul-converting  power' 
characterizes  the  whole  work  of  the  mission." 

"A  living  church  has  been  built  up.  When 
the  hall  was  opened  Eastbrook  had  334  names 
on  its  class  books.  It  has  now  over  a  thou- 
sand. The  class  moneys  alone  last  year 
totaled  £276,  2s.  2d." 

"By  the  open-air  campaign  of  last  summer 
we  touched  between  two  and  three  thousand 
souls  a  week." 

SHEFFIELD  MISSION 

The  work  in  Sheffield  is  in  a  transition  state. 
The  Sunday  afternoon  and  Sunday  evening 
meetings  are  still  held  in  the  great  Albert  Hall. 
The  other  activities  of  the  mission  are  cen- 
tered in  Montgomery  Hall,  some  two  squares 
away.  A  fine  new  Central  Hall  is  in  process  of 
erection  on  Norfolk  Street,  a  prominent 
thoroughfare  of  the  city  and  right  in  the 
center  of  the  city's  population. 

THE  WORK  IN  BIRMINGHAM 

The  stateliest  and  most  imposing  of  all 
the  mission  halls  is  Central  Hall,  Birmingham, 
erected  a  few  years  ago  at  a  cost  of  $350,000. 
This  building  is  of  red  terra  cotta.     In  ex- 


112  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

ternal  form  and  in  interior  arrangement  it  is  a 
perfect  building.  The  first  story  is  all  occu- 
pied by  stores,  some  fifteen  of  them,  and  of  a 
good  type.  The  auditorium  has  something 
over  two  thousand  sittings  and  is  admirably 
arranged  throughout.  The  Synod  Hall,  on  the 
left  of  the  central  entrance,  is  used  for  all  or- 
dinary meetings.  Here  on  Thursday  evening 
I  heard  a  sermon  by  the  superintendent,  Rev. 
F.  L.  Wiseman,  who  made  such  a  fine  impres- 
sion in  this  country  four  years  ago,  when  he 
came  as  fraternal  delegate  to  the  General 
Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.  His  leadership  in  the  Christian  For- 
ward Movement  in  Birmingham  is  recognized 
by  all.  No  one  had  stronger  words  of  praise 
for  him  and  for  his  work  than  Dr.  J.  H. 
Jowett,  of  Carr's  Lane  Congregational  Church, 
with  whom  I  had  an  interview  in  his  vestry 
and  whose  prayer  meeting  I  attended  before 
going  to  the  preaching  service  in  Central 
Hall.  Mr.  Wiseman  is  a  strong  preacher, 
an  inspiring  leader,  and  a  Christian  statesman 
of  the  best  type.  It  has  greatly  impressed  me 
that  the  Wesleyan  Church  is  able  to  command, 
as  it  does,  so  many  of  its  strongest  men  for  the 
superintendency  of  its  mission  halls  and  at 
such  meager  salaries — the  highest,  as  I  under- 


BIRMINGHAM  113 

stand  it,  being  $1,250  and  house.  I  cannot  but 
wonder  what  would  happen  in  some  of  our  great 
American  cities  if  we  could  command  so  large 
a  proportion  of  our  strongest  men  for  churches 
or  mission  halls  in  downtown  districts. 

SEA  HORSE  HALL 

The  Birmingham  Mission  emphasizes  most 
strongly  that  evangelization  must  be  the  life 
and  soul  of  the  mission.  Social  work,  too,  is 
emphasized  here.  A  labor  yard  is  maintained, 
and  an  employment  bureau.  The  labor  yard 
is  at  Sea  Horse  Hall,  which  was  formerly  a 
public  house,  one  of  the  most  disreputable 
haunts  of  vice  in  the  city  and  possessed  of  an 
exceedingly  unenviable  notoriety.  One  could 
hardly  wish  to  hear  a  more  romantic  story 
than  that  of  the  transformation  of  this  down- 
town tavern  into  a  most  effective  mission 
center.  What  was  once  the  dancing  saloon  is 
now  the  hall  where  gospel  meetings  are  held; 
what  was  once  the  bar  parlor  is  now  an  em- 
ployment office;  and  the  malt  house  has  been 
transformed  into  a  shelter  for  destitute  men. 
Last  year  398  men  were  employed  in  the  Sea 
Horse  woody ard.  Another  notorious  public 
house,  the  Beehive,  has  been  similarly  trans- 
formed within  the  past  year. 


114  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

This  transformation  process  is  going  on  all 
over  England.  It  is  made  possible  through 
the  fact  that  the  English  government  is  just 
now  reducing  the  number  of  public  houses,  in 
some  quarters  greatly  reducing  them.  As  soon 
as  a  license  is  withdrawn  the  public  house  is 
vacant.  There  is  nothing  for  it  to  do.  The 
property  is  not  valuable  for  any  other  business 
and  is  usually  for  sale  cheap.  In  a  goodly 
number  of  instances  the  mission  workers  have 
seen  a  real  opportunity  in  the  vacant  property 
because  of  its  strategic  location  and  have  pur- 
chased it,  transforming  its  uses  in  the  manner 
described  above.  Dr.  Jowett  spoke  to  me  with 
much  enthusiasm  of  these  transformations  by 
which  an  instrument  of  darkness  is  made  to 
be  an  instrument  of  light. 


LEYSIAN  MISSION  HALL,  LONDON 


CHAPTER  V 
London  Halls 

During  my  last  week  in  England  I  had  the 
privilege  of  looking  into  five  of  the  great  mis- 
sion hall  centers  in  London — Leysian  Hall  in 
City  Road,  the  most  expensive  of  all  the  halls ; 
West  London  Mission  in  Great  Queen  Street, 
made  famous  by  the  preaching  and  marvelous 
leadership  of  Hugh  Price  Hughes;  the  East 
London  Central  Mission  in  Stepney,  where 
Peter  Thompson  has  been  working  with  sub- 
lime daring  for  more  than  twenty  years  to  re- 
deem a  district  which  has  been  described  as 
the  "black  patch";  the  South  London  Mission 
in  Bermondsey,  one  of  the  Meccas  to  which 
all  students  of  mission  halls  go,  and  where 
Rev.  Henry  T.  Meakin  has  for  many  years 
superintended  a  mighty  work  for  the  clearing 
up  of  dark  places;  and  then  the  Deptford  and 
Greenwich  Mission,  well  known  through  the 
inspiring  leadership  of  Rev.  J.  Gregory  Mantle. 

What  can  I  say  in  this  brief  letter  of  the 
things  seen  in  the  five  days  and  nights  which 
I  devoted  to  these  five  centers  of  evangelistic 
and  social  activity?    A  letter  for  each  mission 

117 


118  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

would  not  be  too  much,  but,  fearing  that  my 
readers  may  become  weary,  I  feel  that  I  must 
close  the  series  with  this  letter.  Perhaps  I  can 
best  give  some  idea  of  the  impression  made 
upon  me  by  summing  up  briefly  the  work 
and  condition  of  each,  and  calling  attention 
to  two  or  three  distinctive  and  outstanding 
features  of  the  work  as  I  saw  it. 

Arriving  in  the  great  English  metropolis  on 
Saturday  evening,  I  took  time  only  to  get 
established  in  my  hotel;  then,  taking  a  hur- 
ried supper,  I  went  directly  to  Leysian  Hall. 
This  stately  and  magnificently  imposing  hall 
is  on  the  famous  City  Road,  and  only  five 
minutes'  walk  from  the  cathedral  of  Meth- 
odism and  the  sacred  spot  where  lie  the  mortal 
remains  of  our  great  founder.  Leysian  Hall 
is  unique.  It  is  a  mission  hall  and  a  social 
settlement  house  combined.  In  its  founding 
it  had  in  it  the  culture  and  far-reaching 
Christian  purpose  of  Dr.  W.  F.  Moulton,  who 
inspired  the  boys  in  Leys  School,  Cambridge, 
to  learn  the  lesson  of  brotherhood  and  "the 
skill  to  draw  to  light  the  hidden  good."  The 
other  man  was  Hugh  Price  Hughes,  whose 
counsel  was  sought  in  the  selection  of  the  first 
headquarters,  in  White  Cross  Street. 

The   spacious  auditorium  of  the  present 


REV.  J.  ASH  PARSONS 


LONDON  HALLS  121 

building  was  opened  by  the  Prince  and 
Princess  of  Wales  on  July  11,  1904.  The 
occasion  was  interesting  and  inspiring.  Dukes, 
knights,  and  eminent  churchmen  were  there 
to  present  purses  to  Her  Royal  Highness.  It 
was  a  great  day  for  the  Leys  boys,  who  were 
to  have  in  this  building  rooms  which  should 
be  headquarters  for  their  settlement  work. 
It  was  nearly  a  year  before  the  entire  building 
was  finished  and  the  great  organ,  costing 
$8,000,  was  formally  dedicated.  Even  Amer- 
ican Methodists,  who  are  accustomed  to  seeing 
and  doing  big  things,  can  hardly  go  to  the 
opposite  side  of  City  Road  and  gaze  at  this 
magnificent  structure  (which  cost,  with  the 
ground  it  occupies,  $600,000)  without  feeling 
that  these  brothers  of  ours  across  the  sea  are 
not  without  vision  and  courage.  But  the  im- 
pression made  by  looking  at  the  outside  of 
Leysian  Hall  is  not  to  be  compared  with  what 
one  sees  on  entering.  It  was  7 :  15  on  Saturday 
evening  when  I  stepped  inside  the  main  en- 
trance and  asked  for  the  superintendent,  Rev. 
J.  Ash  Parsons.  The  entrance-way  was 
crowded,  and  on  reaching  the  inside  I  saw 
people  hurrying  up  the  stairway  to  get  seats 
for  the  concert  which  was  to  begin  in  fifteen 
minutes.    The  concert  itself  was  very  similar 


122  THE  CHUECH  AND  THE  SLUM 

in  character  to  the  one  I  had  seen  in  Liver- 
pool. The  entrance  fee,  including  program, 
was  a  penny;  but  even  at  this  fee  the  concert 
more  than  pays  expenses.  To  me  the  most 
thrillingly  interesting  feature  of  the  evening 
was  a  twelve-minute  temperance  address  by 
Mr.  Parsons.  This  was  given  between  the 
first  and  second  parts  of  the  program.  It  was 
based  upon  certain  facts  disclosed  in  a  series 
of  articles  appearing  in  the  Tribune  on  "The 
Black  Stain,"  or  child  mortality,  by  George 
R.  Sims.  There  was  hardly  a  moment  when 
the  silence  was  not  almost  oppressive  as  Mr. 
Parsons  plumped  facts,  figures,  and  concrete 
cases  at  that  audience.  When  he  came  to  his 
closing  sentence  of  appeal  he  was  cheered  to 
the  echo. 

During  the  evening,  and  again  on  Monday, 
I  looked  through  the  establishment.  There 
is  almost  a  bewildering  labyrinth  of  rooms, 
but  every  room  has  its  use.  Often  a  room 
must  do  duty  for  several  interests.  The  mis- 
sion is  crowded  in  all  departments,  and  the 
departments  are  many.  A  list  of  the  agencies 
which  was  handed  me  included  sixty-one 
items — among  them  the  Coal  Club,  the  Thrift 
Club,  the  Penny  Bank,  the  Lantern  Services, 
Public  House  Visitation,  Dinner  Hour  Serv- 


REV.  PETER  THOMPSON 


LONDON  HALLS  125 

ices,  and  the  Guild  of  Prayer.  Five  years  ago, 
when  I  was  in  London,  this  mission  was  a  very 
small  affair;  now  it  has  a  communicant  mem- 
bership of  1,887.  Many  homes  in  this  part  of 
London  are  touched  and  influenced  by  the 
gospel  of  social  and  spiritual  regeneration 
which  is  here  preached. 

The  third  anniversary  of  the  men's  meeting 
of  this  mission  was  held  the  last  week  of 
October — a  meeting  quite  like  the  Eastbrook 
Brotherhood  of  Bradford — and  was  presided 
over  by  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  who  delivered 
a  most  worthy  address  on  the  "  Brotherhood 
of  Man,"  in  which  he  showed  how  men's 
meetings  like  the  one  in  Leysian  Hall  may 
contribute  to  the  realization  of  the  highest 
ideals  of  human  brotherhood.  Before  the  an- 
niversary closed,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  at 
his  own  request,  was  admitted  to  membership 
and  decorated  with  the  button  badge  of  the 
Brotherhood. 

EAST  LONDON  MISSION 

The  story  of  Peter  Thompson  and  his 
heroic  work  in  East  End  has  been  told  so 
often  that  I  need  not  repeat  it  here.  What 
a  man  of  God  he  is!  It  is  almost  worth  while 
to  cross  the  Atlantic  to  grasp  his  strong  hand 


126  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

and  see  the  flash  of  his  keen,  kindly  eyes.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  half -hour  with  him  in 
the  new  hall  of  which  he  is  so  justly  proud. 
It  was  no  ordinary  event  for  that  part  of 
London  when,  one  day  last  summer,  the  Wes- 
ley an  Conference  met  in  the  glorious  audi- 
torium for  the  formal  opening  exercises.  The 
front  part  of  the  building  is  not  yet  com- 
pleted. It  is  hoped  that  it  will  be  finished  by 
the  end  of  the  coming  summer.  The  cost  of 
the  whole  building  will  be  $180,000.  The 
membership,  not  including  juniors,  is  nearly 
two  thousand.  "The  work  of  this  mission/ ' 
said  a  prominent  Wesleyan,  "touches  bottom. 
It  reaches  the  very  lowest."  Old  Mahogany 
Bar  and  Paddy's  Goose  (public  houses  trans- 
formed into  missions)  will  continue  to  render 
noble  service,  and  many  a  man  through  them 
will  go  to  the  new  hall,  perhaps  to  a  concert 
first,  such  as  I  saw  there  on  Monday  evening, 
and  then  to  the  men's  meeting  or  to  the 
service  on  Sunday  evening.  The  building  is 
not  finished  yet,  but  when  it  is  all  completed, 
and  the  forces  of  the  mission  thoroughly  or- 
ganized under  the  magnificent  leadership  of 
the  veteran  superintendent,  we  shall  see  a 
mighty  work  in  progress.  The  "black  patch" 
may  yet  become  the  garden  of  the  Lord. 


REV.  J.  GREGORY  MANTLE 


LONDON  HALLS  129 

CENTRAL  HALL,   DEPTFORD 

The  time  of  my  visit  to  the  great  hall  at 
Deptford  was  most  fortunate.  It  was  on  the 
first  Sunday  afternoon  in  November  when 
the  men's  brotherhood,  some  seventeen  hun- 
dred strong,  were  out  to  give  their  superin- 
tendent, Rev.  J.  Gregory  Mantle,  a  royal 
welcome  home  after  seven  months'  absence 
in  India,  Japan,  Korea,  and  China.  They 
have  in  this  brotherhood  a  company  of  men, 
some  forty  in  number,  who  call  themselves 
"The  Miracles."  Not  a  man  in  the  company 
who  has  not  been  redeemed  from  drunkenness, 
or  worse,  within  the  past  three  years!  One 
of  the  number  had  written  a  welcome  song 
for  the  occasion,  and  another  had  composed 
the  music.  I  saw  those  "miracles"  stand  up, 
the  whole  forty  of  them,  and  heard  them  sing 
that  song.  Ex-gamblers  and  prize-fighters, 
they  all  joined  in  the  singing,  and  with  a 
spirit  that  brought  tears  to  the  eyes  of  the 
superintendent  whom  they  thus  honored,  and 
to  the  eyes  of  many  other  men  in  that  great 
audience.  Talk  about  a  Lazarus !  I  saw  forty 
Lazaruses  that  afternoon.  Dr.  Samuel  Chad- 
wick's  suggestion,  that  the  getting  of  a  Laz- 
arus will  do  more  than  any  thing  else  to  start 
a   mighty  revival,  is  worth  thinking  about. 


130  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

The  hall  in  Deptf ord  was  opened  in  October, 
1903.  Not  a  Sunday  has  passed  since  then 
that  they  have  not  had  conversions  there. 
Four  years  ago  the  only  hall  was  a  small  room 
seating  about  two  hundred  people;  to-day 
there  are  four  halls,  seating  five  thousand. 
Central  Hall  is  the  largest,  and  has  a  seating 
capacity  for  two  thousand.  The  membership 
has  grown  in  three  years  from  one  hundred  and 
ninety  to  over  two  thousand.  Three  years 
ago  there  was  one  minister,  one  lay  evangelist, 
no  deaconesses,  and  no  bandmen.  To-day 
there  are  four  ministers,  six  lay  evangelists, 
twelve  deaconesses,  and  four  bands  with  a 
hundred  and  twenty-five  bandmen.  The 
bandmen  are  all  enthusiastic  Christian  men,  all 
total  abstainers,  and  all  nonsmokers.  This  mis- 
sion reaches  large  numbers  of  dockers  and  ste- 
vedores. The  social  side  of  the  work  is  simply 
astonishing,  particularly  the  work  for  the  poor 
boys  and  girls.  Some  of  the  boys  were  in  the 
Sunday  afternoon  service,  and  they  seemed  in- 
tensely interested  in  Mr.  Mantle's  vivid  por- 
trayals of  the  things  he  saw  in  India  and  China. 

MISSION  IN  KINGSWAY 

The  West  London  Mission,  since  the  death 
of  Hugh  Price  Hughes,  has  not  been  flourish- 


REV.  J.  E.  RATTENBURY 


LONDON  HALLS  133 

ing;  it  has  been  on  the  decline.  This  does  not 
seem  to  be  the  fault  of  the  workers.  First, 
Saint  James's  Hall  was  sold;  then  the  mission 
was  removed  to  Exeter  Hall,  an  exceedingly 
bad  location  for  the  purposes  of  the  mission. 
After  long  debate  and  much  wrangling  the 
chapel  in  Great  Queen  Street  was  turned  over 
to  the  uses  of  the  mission.  A  considerable 
amount  of  money  was  expended  in  fitting  it 
up.  At  the  last  Conference  Rev.  J.  E.  Ratten- 
bury,  of  illustrious  Methodist  ancestry  and  a 
man  who  successfully  conducted  a  mission  at 
Nottingham,  was  appointed  superintendent. 
Plans  are  under  way  to  enlarge  the  auditorium, 
add  clubrooms,  and  provide  a  great  entrance 
from  Kingsway — a  fine  new  street  recently 
cut  straight  through  from  Oxford  Street  to 
the  Strand. 

Mr.  Rattenbury  is  an  interesting  and  mag- 
netic speaker.  His  oratory  is  not  of  the  con- 
ventional type,  but  rather  of  the  sort  which 
made  Arius  the  Libyan  so  powerful  and  per- 
suasive a  pulpit  orator.  I  heard  him  on  Sun- 
day evening  in  the  first  of  the  six  sermons  he 
has  been  preaching  on  social  topics.  It  was 
the  only  mission  I  visited  or  heard  of  where 
the  evangelistic  appeal  was  not  made  in  the 
Sunday  night  service.     Some  of  Mr.  Ratten- 


134  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

bury's  friends  rather  apologized  for  him  next 
day  by  saying  that  he  was  bidding  for  his 
audience,  being  new  in  the  mission,  and  that 
after  he  had  his  audience  he  would  be  as 
evangelistic  as  any  of  the  missioners.  Let  us 
hope  so.  But  there  are  some  who  will  doubt 
the  wisdom  of  a  preacher  trying  to  get  an 
audience  by  preaching  socialism,  or  any  other 
ism,  with  the  expectation  that  he  will  hold 
that  same  audience  by  preaching  the  saving 
power  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  had  read  in  the 
British  Weekly  the  day  before  an  interview 
with  Mr.  Rattenbury  on  "Why  I  am  a  So- 
cialist." Socialism  is  the  one  great  and  ab- 
sorbing topic  in  England  just  now.  Of  course, 
what  Rattenbury  and  men  like  him  mean  by 
declaring  themselves  to  be  socialists  is  not 
that  they  are  political  but  Christian  socialists. 
They  are  trying  to  show  that  the  good  in 
socialism,  rightly  understood,  is  a  part  of  the 
program  of  Christianity. 

SOUTH  SIDE  MISSION 

The  last  hall  I  visited  was  the  one  superin- 
tended by  Rev.  Henry  T.  Meakin.  It  is  lo- 
cated in  a  deserted  and  dirty  part  of  South 
London,  about  a  mile  east  of  Spurgeon's 
Tabernacle.     No  more  interesting  work  is  to 


CENTRAL  HALL,  SOUTH  LONDON  MISSION 


LONDON  HALLS  137 

be  seen  anywhere.  The  mission  was  founded 
eighteen  years  ago.  Mr.  Meakin,  formerly  in 
the  railroad  service,  was  superintendent  when 
the  new  hall  was  building,  and  has  seen  the 
prosperity  of  the  work  from  the  opening  until 
now.  The  present  membership  is  about  fifteen 
hundred  and  steadily  increasing.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  fully  seven  thousand  people, 
young  and  old,  pass  through  the  hall  every 
week.  The  most  characteristic  feature  of  the 
work  here  is  what  is  done  for  the  children. 
Plans  are  on  to  do  more.  Mr.  Meakin  has  a 
considerable  amount  pledged  for  a  great  in- 
stitutional building  for  children,  to  be  located 
just  across  the  street  from  Central  Hall.  He 
has  a  theory  that  the  cheapest,  quickest,  and 
most  effectual  way  in  which  to  improve  the 
slum  community  is  to  care  for  the  neglected 
children.  "I  would  have,"  says  he,  "a  state 
record  for,  and  oversight  over,  every  indi- 
vidual child  until  the  child  has  passed  through 
the  preparatory  period  of  life  and  has  emerged 
into  an  age  of  responsibility  for  itself."  He 
says  further:  "At  all  costs  there  should  be 
no  out-of-works  between  the  ages  of  thirteen 
and  eighteen."  When  the  home  of  which 
Superintendent  Meakin  is  dreaming  is  built, 
and   the   twenty-five   hundred   children    are 


138  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

actually  there,  it  will  be  a  place  worth  going 

to  see. 

"the  old  order  change™" 

It  was  in  1891  that  I  got  my  first  glimpse 
of  the  Wesley  an  Church.  During  the  summer 
of  that  year  I  attended  the  Conference,  which 
was  held  at  Nottingham.  There  I  heard  many 
of  the  leading  men  on  the  floor  of  the  Con- 
ference and  in  services  held  in  the  chapels  of 
the  city.  Later  I  visited  many  chapels  in 
London  and  other  cities.  The  impression 
made  was  not  favorable.  It  seemed  to  me 
that  the  Wesleyans  of  England  were  in  a  rut, 
and  that,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  noble 
and  notable  men,  the  more  earnest  spirit  of 
Methodism  had  departed.  The  Methodism 
I  saw  seemed  little  less  than  an  imitation,  and 
a  poor  imitation  at  that,  of  the  Established 
Church,  having  no  fine,  strong,  vigorous,  in- 
dependent life  and  power  of  its  own.  Per- 
haps I  had  expected  too  much.  Perhaps  I 
did  not  see  all  I  ought  to  have  seen.  But  the 
impression  made  was  as  I  have  described  it. 
I  am  coming  back  home  from  this  visit,  six- 
teen years  later,  amazed  and  thrilled  by  what 
I  have  seen.  The  mission  halls  had  few  advo- 
cates sixteen  years  ago.  To-day  their  spirit 
is  pervading  the  whole  Wesleyan  Church.    It 


REV.  HENRY  T.  MEAKIN 


LONDON  HALLS  141 

is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  these  halls 
have  transformed  the  Wesley  an  Church.  Peter 
Thompson  said  to  me:  "If  it  had  not  been  for 
the  mission  halls,  we  shouldn't  have  had  the 
Million  Guinea  Fund,  and  if  we  hadn't  had 
the  Million  Guinea  Fund,  Methodism  to-day 
would  be  depressed,  if  not  disheartened."  I 
have  talked  with  leading  representatives  of 
the  Methodist  press,  with  distinguished  min- 
isters in  circuits  as  well  as  in  mission  halls, 
with  professors  in  three  of  the  Wesleyan 
theological  colleges,  with  members  of  the 
editorial  staff  of  great  papers  both  religious 
and  secular,  with  eminent  professors  and  min- 
isters outside  of  the  Wesleyan  Church,  with 
business  men  as  well  as  clergymen,  with  stu- 
dents as  well  as  professors,  and  the  testimony, 
in  every  case,  has  been  an  expression  of  deep 
appreciation  of  what  the  mission  halls  have 
done  and  are  doing,  not  only  for  the  Wesleyan 
Church,  but  for  Christianity  and  for  the  social 
betterment  of  the  waste  places  in  the  cities  of 
England.  The  Wesleyan  Church  is  over- 
whelmingly committed  to  the  mission-hall 
idea.  On  the  strength  of  testimony  received 
I  am  safe  in  saying  that  the  mission  halls 
never  had  the  confidence  of  the  Methodists  of 
England  as  they  have  to-da}^     And  there  is 


142  THE  CHUKCH  AND  THE  SLUM 

reason  for  this.  One  of  the  most  accurate 
statisticians  of  the  Wesleyan  Church  said  to 
me:  "Of  the  fifty-seven  thousand  net  increase 
in  membership  during  the  past  ten  years, 
three  fourths  have  come  directly  through  the 
mission  halls. "  Over  forty  of  these  missions 
have  already  been  established,  and  all  are 
flourishing.  The  Wesleyans  have  put  some 
five  million  dollars  into  these  great  establish- 
ments, and  they  are  not  done  yet.  New  halls 
are  in  process  of  erection.  Even  the  circuits 
are  catching  the  enthusiasm,  and  halls  not  so 
expensive  as  those  in  the  cities,  but  seating 
some  one  thousand  people,  are  being  built  in 
several  of  the  rural  districts.  The  latest  re- 
port of  the  Home  Mission  Fund  names  five 
such  halls  which  are  now  in  operation.  In 
this  same  report  Dr.  Pope  and  his  assistant, 
Rev.  Simpson  Johnson,  call  attention  to  the 
danger,  ever  present  in  movements  of  this 
kind,  that  social  and  intellectual  activities 
may  push  the  spiritual  into  the  background. 
They  go  on  to  say:  "We  have  been  wonder- 
fully preserved  from  this  danger  in  the  past, 
and  if  each  missioner  is  a  strong  and  spirit- 
ual personality,  breathing  his  own  soul  into 
all  his  coworkers,  then  the  secondary  fac- 
tors will   take  their   proper   place   and   will 


REV.  J.  GREGORY  MANTLE  AND  SOME  OF  HIS 
POOR  CHILDREN 


LONDON  HALLS  145 

be  made  helpful  in  the  great  business  of  saving 
men." 

MISSION  HALLS  IN  AMERICA 

To  what  extent  the  mission  hall  may  be 
adopted  to  advantage  here  in  America  I  do 
not  pretend  to  say.  Others  who  have  given 
more  careful  study  to  the  problem  of  the 
American  city  will  be  better  able  to  judge. 
I  can  think  just  now,  however,  of  at  least 
three  districts  in  as  many  of  our  large  cities 
where  I  should  like  to  see  the  experiment  tried. 
Perhaps  we  should  do  well  to  use  another 
name.  The  typical  mission  hall  with  us  is 
such  a  cheap  affair  that  few  would  understand 
what  we  meant.  Whatever  we  may  think  of 
transplanting  the  method,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  spirit  of  the  mission  hall,  which 
is  preeminently  and  persistently  evangelistic, 
is  needed  here  as  well  as  in  England.  In  every 
mission  I  saw,  with  the  possible  exception  of 
West  London,  the  fire  of  evangelism  is  burning 
brightly.  It  is  a  sane  evangelism,  too.  It 
says  to  the  unsaved  man:  " Jesus  Christ  wants 
you.  He  died  for  you.  If  you  let  him,  he  will 
make  out  of  you  the  man  you  ought  to  be. 
Come!"  It  says  to  the  redeemed  man:  "Bring 
yourself  to  your  best;  be  as  strong  and  fully 
developed  as  it  is  possible  for  you  to  be.    Win 


146  THE  CHUKCII  AKD  THE  SLUM 

somebody  else ;  be  Christ 's  messenger  to  some- 
one who  is  now  where  you  were.  Render 
some  social  service — brighten  a  home,  help  a 
boy,  stand  against  the  things  that  hurt,  lend 
a  hand ;  remember,  you  are  Christ's  man,  and 
as  Christ's  man  you  are,  like  him,  to  go  about 
doing  good."  The  watchword  everywhere  in 
the  mission  halls  seems  to  be,  "Evangelism  and 
Social  Service." 

I  should  feel  condemned  if  I  did  not  add  a 
word  of  confession,  and  say  that  my  visit  to 
these  twelve  missions  has  been  an  inspiration 
to  my  own  soul.  I  went  on  this  trip  for  a  rest 
and  recreation.  I  found  both,  though  in  a  man- 
ner I  did  not  anticipate.  In  looking  into  the 
work  of  these  mission  halls,  I  have  read  new 
chapters  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  have 
seen  such  visions  of  opportunity  that  I  am 
coming  back  determined,  God  helping  me,  to 
put  more  emphasis  on  evangelism  and  to  render 
more  worthy  social  service.  I  am  deeply  in- 
debted to  my  brethren  across  the  sea  for  much 
kindness  shown  and  many  delightful  cour- 
tesies which  shall  not  be  forgotten;  but  my 
great  obligation  to  them  grows  out  of  the 
privilege  they  gave  me  of  seeing  the  work 
they  are  doing  for  the  social  and  spiritual 
regeneration  of  England. 


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